Gums and mucilages/Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 2009, 4 (5): 309-323 309 1 Gums and mucilages: versatile excipients for pharmaceutical formulations Girish K Jani a , Dhiren P Shah b, * , Vipul D Prajapati a , Vineet C Jain b a S S R College of Pharmacy, Silvassa, India b C K Pithawalla Institute of Pharmaceutical Science and Research, Surat, Gujarat, India Received 4 November 2008; Revised 9 January 2009; Accepted 24 September 2009 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract Nature has provided us a wide variety of materials to help improve and sustain the health of all living things either directly or indirectly. In recent years there have been important developments in different dosage forms for existing and newly designed drugs and natural products, and semi-synthetic as well as synthetic excipients often need to be used for a variety of purposes. Gums and mucilages are widely used natural materials for conventional and 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 tailor-made materials for drug delivery systems and thus can compete with the available synthetic excipients. In this review, we describe the developments in natural gums and mucilages for use in the pharmaceutical sciences. Keywords: Natural polysaccharide; Natural gum; Pharmaceutical application _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Introduction Robbins has stated, "in spite of the problems which have beset the gums market in recent years, the fact remains that in many cases the gums provide a valuable source of income for many poor smallholders or itinerant labourers, either in very poor countries or in the poorest regions rather than more developed countries as such they are important commodities ..." [1]. This remains true today. Tens of thousands of people worldwide, living in regions ranging from semi- arid deserts to rainforests, depend on the collection of gums, resins and latexes in order to provide them with an income. Equally, many millions of people around the world make use of these products in their everyday life [1]. Mother nature has gifted India with great variety of flora and fauna. For centuries man has made effective use of materials of natural origin in the medical and pharmaceutical field. Today, the whole world is increas- ingly interested in natural drugs and excipients. Natural materials have advantages over synthetic materials because they are non toxic, less expensive and freely available. Furthermore, they can be modified to obtain tailor made materials for drug delivery systems allowing them to compete with the synthetic products that are commercially available. Many kinds of natural gums are used in the food industry and are regarded as safe for human consumption. It should be noted that many ‘old’ materials are still popular today after almost a century of efforts to replace them. It is usual to strike a balance between economics and performance in the face of commercial realities [2-5]. 2. What are gums and mucilages? Gums are considered to be pathological products formed following injury to the plant or owing to unfavor- able conditions, such as drought, by a breakdown of cell walls (extra cellular formation; gummosis) while, mucilages are generally normal products of metabolism, formed within the cell (intracellular formation) and/or are produced without injury to the plant. __________ *Corresponding author. Address: Dhiren P Shah, C K Pithawalla Institute of Pharmaceutical Science and Research, Via Magdalla Port, Nr. Malvan Mandir, Dumas Road, Gavior Gam, Surat. PIN –395007, Gujarat, India. Tel.: +91-261-6587286; Fax: +91-261-2723999 E-mail: dhirenpshah1@gmail.com