Mucilages are widely used natural materials for conventional as well as for novel dosage forms. These natural materials have advantages over synthetic ones since they are chemically inert, nontoxic, less expensive, biodegradable and widely available. They can also be modified in different ways to obtain desired formulation for drug delivery systems and thus can compete with the available synthetic excipients. The present study was undertaken to isolate and characterize the mucilage of Calendula for its adhesive properties. The mucilage was isolated from the Calendula petals by aqueous extraction method and characterized for various physiochemical parameters such as solubility, pH, loss on drying, swelling index, test for carbohydrates, test for tannins, test for chloride, test for sulfate, viscosity, total carbohydrates content, and sugar analysis using thin layer chromatography. The mucilage was further characterized for flow properties as well as for its adhesive properties. The yield of mucilage was 10-11 % w/w. The isolated mucilage showed good physicochemical characteristics, flow properties and adhesion characteristics. Thus, from the studies, it is concluded that Calendula mucilage can be used as mucoadhesive component in pharmaceutical formulations due to its adhesive characteristics.
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