Aloe gel and whole-leaf raw materials: Promising excipients for the production of matrix-type tablets

Abstract

The pharmaceutical industry endeavours to develop novel drug delivery systems which require excipients that fulfil specific functions. Excipients from renewable sources are attractive due to their sustainable mass production. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential use of gel and whole leaf materials from Aloe vera and Aloe ferox as excipients in the formulation of controlled release matrix-type mini-tablets. The chemical composition of the freeze-dried aloe materials was characterised by means of proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and their flow properties determined. Matrix-type mini-tablets manufactured from the aloe materials alone, and in combination with other polymers were evaluated in terms of their physical characteristics, mucoadhesive properties, swelling behaviour and drug release kinetics. Some of the formulations exhibited high potential to control drug release from matrix-type tablets and some approached zero-order kinetics.