Influence of Biofield Treatment on Physicochemical Properties of Hydroxyethyl Cellulose and Hydroxypropyl Cellulose

What is it about?

Cellulose based polymers have shown tremendous potential as drug delivery carrier for oral drug delivery system (DDS). Hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) and hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) are widely explored as excipients to improve the solubility of poorly water soluble drugs and to improve self-life of dosage form. This work is an attempt to modulate the physicochemical properties of these cellulose derivatives using biofield treatment. The treated HEC and HPC polymer were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The XRD studies revealed a semi-crystalline nature of both the polymers. Crystallite size was computed using Scherrer’s formula, and treated HEC polymer showed a significant increase in percentage crystallite size (835%) as compared to the control polymer. This higher increase in crystallite size might be associated with greater crystallite indices causing a reduction in amorphous regions in the polymer. However treated HPC polymer showed decrease in crystallite size by -64.05% as compared to control HPC. DSC analysis on HEC polymer revealed the presence of glass transition temperature in control and treated HEC polymer. We observed an increase in glass transition temperature in treated HEC, which might be associated with restricted segmental motion induced by biofield. Nonetheless, HPC has not showed any glass transition. And no change in melting temperature peak was observed in treated HPC (T2) however melting temperature was decreased in T1 as compared to control HPC. TGA analysis established the higher thermal stability of treated HEC and HPC. CHNSO results showed significant increase in percentage oxygen and hydrogen in HEC and HPC polymers as compared to control samples. This confirmed that biofield had induced changes in chemical nature and elemental composition of the treated polymers (HEC and HPC).

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Why is it important?

The oral route is by far the most preferred and convenient route for delivery of many pharmaceutically active drugs. Thus, the oral mucosa has many properties that make it a fascinating choice for drug delivery [1]. Oral drug delivery is an excellent non-invasive approach that provides alternative to invasive routes such as intravenous, intramuscular, subcutaneous administration of drugs. Nevertheless, it also provides several challenges for pharmaceutical scientist investigating novel delivery techniques to overcome. There are different formulations strategies including sprays, tablets, mouthwashes, gels, pastes and patches are currently used for delivery into and across the oral mucosa. DDS developed for local delivery to mucosal diseases require different pharmacokinetic behavior compared to topical delivery for systemic applications [1]. Presently, there are a small number of drugs which are routinely delivered via the sublingual or buccal route e.g. systemic delivery of glyceryl trinitrate for angina relief and topical corticosteroid administration for inflammatory diseases of the oral mucosa including lichen planus [2]. Nevertheless, the formulations administered orally face a daunting challenge by acidic pH and enzymes being produced in the stomach. The formulation dosage form suffers premature release due to degradation of polymer in gastrointestinal pH [3] and it reduces targeted action of the encapsulated drug. Hence, more time/pH controlled DDS should be designed to overcome these obstacles. Cellulose and cellulose based derivatives are accepted as natural materials with good tolerance by the human body and are commonly used in medical and pharmaceutical applications such as targeted DDS [4,5]. The other important properties of cellulose polymers are biocompatibility with tissue and blood, non-toxicity and low cost [5]. HEC is an excellent derivative of cellulose with superior water retention and biocompatibility. It contains several –OH groups on its structure that allows it to be chemically modified by various means [6,7]. Recently, HEC-based swelling/floating gastroretentive DDS has been tried for its clinical relevance in healthy volunteers [8]. The HPC is another well-known polymer wherein few –OH group in repeating sugar units are hydroxypropylated using propylene oxide [9]. The high glass transition temperature of HPC confers great stability and restricts drug diffusion, recrystallization during storage. Moreover, the free –OH group of HEC readily form the hydrogen bond with a carbonyl group of pharmaceuticals, which provides stability in the solid state [10-12]. Nevertheless HEC and HPC matrices due to high hydrophilicity on few instances leads to a premature release of drugs and that need to be modulated in order to enhance its pharmaceutical applicability. Biofield is being generated by a human body that causes a paramount effect on surroundings. Mr. Mahendra Trivedi is well known to change the characteristics of various living and non-living things in controlled research experiments through his biofield, referred herein as Biofield treatment. The said Biofield has significantly changed the atomic, crystalline, and thermal characteristics of various materials such as metals, ceramics and carbon allotropes [13-20]. Recently it was reported that the use of biofield has significantly improved the yield and quality of various agricultural products [21-23]. Furthermore biofield has significantly optimized antibiotic sensitivity and produced biochemical reactions which further changed the characteristics of pathogenic microbes [24-26]. Additionally the effects of biofield on growth and anatomical characteristics of the herb Pogostemon cablin used in perfumes, in incense/insect repellents, were recently investigated [27]. In the present work, HEC and HPC polymers were treated with Biofield. The treated polymers were characterized by XRD, DSC, TGA and CHNSO analysis.

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