Aegle marmelos, Enicostemma littorale and Eugenia jambolana are three herbs commonly used in India as antidiabetic action, mostly in oral liquid dosage forms or whole herbs powder. Several disadvantages are associated with these traditional dosage forms which can perhaps be remedied by using an appropriate oral solid freeze dried extract, provided the actual plant material in the latter still resemble, as closely as possible, the traditionally used material and provide products of suitable pharmaceutical quality. The objectives of this study were to prepare and evaluate the pharmaceutical suitability of the freeze-dried aqueous extracts of A. marmelos, E. littorale and E. jambolana, and have immediate release characteristics and suitable stability. To realize these objectives the decoction of the plants were made and freeze-dried, and each dried extracts evaluated, in a pre-formulation study, for its organoleptic and physicochemical (e.g. particle size and shape, powder density, flowability, solubility, etc) properties and levels of marker compounds. For the latter a validated HPLC assay was used. The freeze-dried aqueous extracts of A. marmelos, E. littorale and E. jambolana, produced were moderately fine powders with irregular particle shapes, were sparingly soluble in water, but highly wettable, had good flow properties, on average contained 4.398±0.1357, 6.02 ± 0.1754 and 4.89 ± 0.2354 moisture for A. marmelos, E. littorale and E. jambolana, respectively, had microbial contamination counts well within the specifications and were suitable plant raw materials. The average amount of Psoralen, Sweriamarin and Gallic acid in 1 gm of A.marmelose, E.littorale and E.jambolana freeze dried extracts were 0.542±0.136, 1.897±0.426 and 4.508±0.629 mg respectively. Collectively, the results showed that the aqueous freeze dried extracts A.marmelose, E.littorale and E.jambolana were suitable as raw materials of the plants.
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