World Applied Sciences Journal 9 (5): 553-560, 2010 ISSN 1818-4952 © IDOSI Publications, 2010 Corresponding Author: Rishabha Malviya, Research Scholar, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Meerut Institute of Engineering and Technology, NH-58, Delhi-Roorkee Highway, Baghpat Crossing, Meerut-250005, Uttar Pradesh, India E-mail id: rishabhamalviya19@gmail.com Tel: +91 9450352185 553 A Brief Review on Thermo-rheological Properties of Starch Obtained from “Metroxylon sagu” Rishabha Malviya, Pranati Srivastava, Annamalai Pandurangan, Mayank Bansal and Pramod Kumar Sharma Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Meerut Institute of Engineering and Technology, Meerut, Baghpat Bypass-250005 Uttar Predesh, India Abstract: In the present era of diverging pharmaceuticals upcoming in the market, those from that of natural origin are gaining increasing importance. In this context, starch when obtained from natural source has high orientation to be used as pharmaceutical excipient. Among the natural sources, in the present review we have discussed about Metroxylon sagu i.e. sago starch as a potential source to be used as pharmaceutical excipient. We moreover have gone into details of sources, geographical area which can be exploited for further research work. We too have dealt with the properties like thickener, binding properties and various thermal and rheological properties. A section having brief discussion indicates the parameters affecting the grade and quantity of starch for use as excipient. The basic parameters we have included are like, amylose and amylopectin concentration, effect of salts, sugars, gelatinization and retrogradation which have a high impact upon grade of starch and its quality. Going through the review, the fact was observed that there are various parameters which can directly and indirectly affect starch grade and hence type and quality of formulation. Key words: Sago starch Thermo-rheological properties Gelatinization Excipient Swelling behaviour INTRODUCTION About the Plant: Sago starch (Metroxylon sagu) is produced from the pith of the cycads of the genus, Cycas. Cycas revoluta is also referred to as sago palm, Japanese sago, or king sago and Cycas rumphii as tree sago or queen sago [1]. Sago initially is present in South East Asia and it could be produced from sago palm (Metroxylon spp.), which is also better known as rumbia. It is an important resource especially to the people in rural areas because it has various uses especially in the production of starch either as sago flour or sago pearl [2, 3]. Focusing, the geographical distribution, M. sagu, grows in freshwater swamps in Southeast Asia and many islands in the western Pacific. Amazingly, more than 200 kg of starch (sago) can be obtained from a single palm (Table 1). It has already been studied that ten or more of morphologically variable species of these were mutually correlated. Analysis of the various principal components revealed the fact that component analyses of the same Table 1: General description of Plant Kingdom Plantae (Unranked) Angiosperms (Unranked) Monocots (Unranked) Commenilids Order Arecales Family Arecaceae Genus Metroxylon Species M. sagu Botanical Name Metroxylon sagu, morphological variables showed that neither armature (with presence or absence of spines) nor geographical separation was reflected clearly in the quantitative morphological variation of the plant. Similarity on the ground of genetic, quantitative, morphological, geographical and armature data has already been tested for correlation [4]. In spite of this fact; it has been reported in various literature that results only showed a significant correlation between genetic and geographical distances. The major conclusion drawn from the fact and