APPLICATION OF BRACHYSTEGIA EURYCOMA AQUEOUS SEED EXTRACT AS SUSPENDING AGENT FOR THE FORMULATION OF PARACETAMOL SUSPENSION

*Isaiah Onyekachi and Romanus Omeh

Several natural products are available for use as Pharmaceutical excipients, but there is still a need for more and new materials to overcome some limitations of the available ones. This study investigates the potential of Brachystegia eurycoma seed gum as a cost-effective natural excipient for use in pharmaceutical suspensions. The seed gum was extracted using a continuous extraction procedure. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis identified dodecanoic acid as the most occurring component in the aqueous seed gum extract. The formulated paracetamol suspensions are evaluated for their rheological behaviour, dispersibility, and sedimentation profiles. These were compared with suspensions formulated using tragacanth gum at 1%, 2%, and 3%w/v concentrations. The sedimentation ratios of suspensions containing B. eurycoma gum at 2%w/v and 3%w/v were 0.7 and 0.9, respectively, compared to 0.2 for tragacanth after 24 hours. Additionally, a negative correlation was observed between the concentration of the suspending agent and the time required for dispersion, with 3%w/v B. eurycoma showing the best performance. Infrared spectroscopy of the formulations (QZ, CB, FP, and IC) showed the presence of a hydroxyl stretch (-OH) peak between 3200-3600 cm-1, an amide stretch (1000 - 1300cm-1) was present at 1080, 1051, 1058, and 1054cm-1 in formulation QZ, CB, FP, and IG spectral respectively. The findings revealed that Brachystegia eurycoma seed gum possesses superior suspending activity and rheological properties compared to gum tragacanth, particularly at higher concentrations. These characteristics make it a promising candidate for use as a suspending agent in pharmaceutical suspensions.