Natural gums and mucilages have been extensively explored as pharmaceutical excipients. These gums and mucilages are biocompatible, cheap and easily available. The present study was undertaken with an objective to find out the gelling potential of natural mucilage obtained from endosperm of Borassus flabellifer fruit. Mucilage extracted from endosperm of Borassus flabellifer fruit was subjected to toxicity studies for its safety and preformulation studies for its suitability as a gelling agent. Diclofenac sodium was used as model drug for the formulation of gels. In the present study eight batches of Diclofenac sodium gels were prepared with different concentrations of mucilage (viz; 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0 %w/w) and compared with existing gum tragacanth as standard gelling agent. The gels were evaluated for drug content, viscosity, in vitro permeation (across dialysis membrane), skin irritation and stability tests. The gels prepared with 4.0%w/w of mucilage were found to be more effective in comparison to that of gel with 6%w/w of gum tragacanth. The gels prepared with 4.0%w/w of mucilage were found to be ideal and comparable with a commercial preparation(Voltaren gel®).The prepared gels did not produce any dermatological reactions and were well tolerated by the guinea pig. Stability study revealed that the gel formulations were physically stable and has no syneresis. Briefly, it could be concluded that the Borassus flabellifer mucilage can be used as a pharmaceutical excipient in gel formulations; it has the potential to also replace some synthetic gelling polymers upon further modifications.
