SOLUBILITY ENHANCEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF GUM BASED COLON TARGETED DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS OF QUERCETIN

The study aimed to enhance the solubility and develop a polymer (Guar Gum/Xanthan gum) based colon targeted drug delivery system of Quercetin promising in-vitro mouth-to-colon release profile. The solubility of the drug was enhanced by the solid dispersion method using solvent-evaporation technique; the optimized formulation 1:5 (Quercetin: PVP) was targeted to colon. Thermal studies proved that the drug is in an amorphous state. FTIR studies indicated no interaction between the drug and the polymers. The in-vitro drug release studies indicated that among all, F5 and F6 type formulations were promising to target the colon with a release of 96.30% at the end of 24^th h. F6 formulation exhibited a release of 90.12% at the end of 24^th h. The release kinetics was found to follow zero-order by super case- II transport. Simulated dissolution studies of the optimized formulations using 4% rat caecal demonstrated a maximum release of 100.36 & 98.75% at the end of 24^th h in colonic contents. The tablets showed a release of 92.78± 0.61 at the end of 3 months. The solubility of poorly soluble Quercetin was enhanced by the solvent evaporation technique, and the drug was targeted to colon system using guar gum and xanthane gum effectively by maximizing the drug release in the colon.