Pregnancy is a special physiological condition where drug treatment presents a special concern because the physiology of pregnancy affects the pharmacokinetics of medications used and certain medications can reach the fetus and cause harm. Total avoidance of pharmacological treatment in pregnancy is not possible and may be dangerous because some women enter pregnancy with medical conditions that require ongoing and episodic treatment (e.g. asthma, epilepsy, hypertension). Also during pregnancy new medical problems can develop and old ones can be exacerbated (e.g. migraine, headache) requiring pharmacological therapy. The fact that certain drugs given during pregnancy may prove harmful to the unborn child is one of the classical problems in medical treatment. In 1960's pregnant ladies who ingested thalidomide gave birth to children with phocomalia. Various other examples of teratogenic effects of drugs are known. It has been documented that congenital abnormalities caused by human teratogenic drugs account for less than 1% of total congenital abnormalities. Hence in 1979, Food and Drug Administration developed a system that determines the teratogenic risk of drugs by considering the quality of data from animal and human studies. FDA classifies various drugs used in pregnancy into five categories, categories A, B, C, D and X. Category A is considered the safest category and category X is absolutely contraindicated in pregnancy. This provides therapeutic guidance for the clinician. This article focuses on various aspects relating to drug use during pregnancy.

Psychotropic drugs are an important family of compounds from a medical point of view. Their application in therapy requires methods for the determination in pharmaceutical dosage forms and body fluids. Several methods for their analysis have been reported in the literature. Among the methods, spectrophotometric and electrochemical are very useful for the determination of the drugs. Some of the spectrophotometric methods are based on the formation of the binary and ternary compounds with complexes of metals. The formed compounds are sparingly soluble in water, but quantitatively extracted from aqueous phase into organic solvents and the extracts are intensely colored and stable for a few days. These complexes have been employed in pharmaceutical analysis. The electrochemical procedures are very useful in determination of the psychotropic substances in pharmaceutical preparations.

Floating matrix tablets of domperidone were developed to prolong gastric residence time and thereby increased drug bioavailability. Domperidone was chosen as a model drug because it is poorly absorbed from the lower gastrointestinal tract. The tablets were prepared by wet granulation technique, using polymers such as hydroxypropylmethylcellulose K4M, carbopol 934P, and sodium alginate, either alone or in combination, and other standard excipients. Tablets were evaluated for physical characteristics viz. hardness, % friability, floating capacity, weight variation and content uniformity. Further, tablets were evaluated for in vitro release characteristics for 24 h. In vitro release mechanism was evaluated by linear regression analysis. Floating matrix tablets based on combination of three polymers namely; hydroxypropylmethylcellulose K4M, carbopol 934P and sodium alginate exhibited desired floating and prolonged drug release for 24 h. Carbopol loading showed negative effect on floating properties but were found helpful to control the release rate of drug.

A stability-indicating HPLC method was developed and validated for the quantitative determination of diacerein in capsule dosage forms. An isocratic separation was achieved using a perfectsil target ODS-3, 250×4.6 mm i.d., 5 µm particle size columns with a flow rate of 1 ml/min and using a UV detector to monitor the eluate at 254 nm. The mobile phase consisted of phosphate buffer:acetonitrile (40:60, v/v) with pH 4.0 adjusted with phosphoric acid. The drug was subjected to oxidation, hydrolysis, photolysis and thermal degradation. Diacerein was found to degrade in acidic, basic, and oxidative stress and also under neutral condition. Complete separation of degraded products was achieved from the parent compound. All degradation products in an overall analytical run time of approximately 10 min with the parent compound diacerein eluting at approximately 4.9 min. The method was linear over the concentration range of 1-10 µg/ml (r² = 0.9996) with a limit of detection and quantitation of 0.01 and 0.05 µg/ml respectively. The method has the requisite accuracy, selectivity, sensitivity, precision and robustness to assay diacerein in capsules. Degradation products resulting from the stress studies did not interfere with the detection of diacerein and the assay is thus stability-indicating.

The aim of the present study was to formulate and evaluate pharmaceutically equivalent injectable aqueous suspension for parenteral depot of methyl prednisolone acetate. Various aqueous suspensions were prepared by rapid stirring and colloid milling method. The prepared aqueous suspensions were subjected to particle size determination, sedimentation study, in vitro release studies (pH dependent dissolution study), and stability studies. The optimized formulation consisted of 4% w/w of methyl prednisolone acetate, 2.91% w/w of PEG-3350, 0.19% w/v of injection grade Tween-80, 0.68% w/w of monobasic sodium phosphate, 0.15% w/w of di-basic sodium phosphate, 0.91% w/v of benzyl alcohol, 0.32% w/w sodium meta bisulphate. The f 2 value was calculated for innovator (DepoMedrol^® , Batch No. MPH-0254) and optimized formulation at pH 6.8 and pH 7.4 phosphate buffers. The f ₂ values of 62.94 and 54.37 were obtained at pH 6.8 and pH 7.4 phosphate buffers respectively. The particle size ranged 23-27 µm at D value of 0.9 for both test and innovator product.

A simple, specific, accurate and stability-indicating reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous determination of mephenesin and diclofenac diethylamine, using a Spheri-5-RP-18 column and a mobile phase composed of methanol: water (70:30, v/v), pH 3.0 adjusted with o -phosphoric acid. The retention times of mephenesin and diclofenac diethylamine were found to be 3.9 min and 14.5 min, respectively. Linearity was established for mephenesin and diclofenac diethylamine in the range of 50-300 µg/ml and 10-60 µg/ml, respectively. The percentage recoveries of mephenesin and diclofenac diethylamine were found to be in the range of 99.06-100.60% and 98.95-99.98%, respectively. Both the drugs were subjected to acid, alkali and neutral hydrolysis, oxidation, dry heat, photolytic and UV degradation. The degradation studies indicated, mephenesin to be susceptible to neutral hydrolysis, while diclofenac diethylamine showed degradation in acid, H ₂ O ₂ , photolytic and in presence of UV radiation. The degradation products of diclofenac diethylamine in acidic and photolytic conditions were well resolved from the pure drug with significant differences in their retention time values. This method can be successfully employed for simultaneous quantitative analysis of mephenesin and diclofenac diethylamine in bulk drugs and formulations.

In the present work, fast disintegrating tablets of prochlorperazine maleate were designed with a view to enhance patient compliance by direct compression method. In this method mucilage of Plantago ovata and crospovidone were used as superdisintegrants (2-8% w/w) along with microcrystalline cellulose (20-60% w/w) and directly compressible mannitol (Pearlitol SD 200) to enhance mouth feel. The prepared batches of tablets were evaluated for hardness, friability, drug content uniformity, wetting time, water absorption ratio and in vitro dispersion time. Based on in vitro dispersion time (approximately 8 s), the two formulations were tested for the in vitro drug release pattern (in pH 6.8 phosphate buffer), short-term stability (at 40º/75% relative humidity for 3 mo) and drug-excipient interaction (IR spectroscopy). Among the two promising formulations, the formulation prepared by using 8% w/w of Plantago ovata mucilage and 60% w/w of microcrystalline cellulose emerged as the overall best formulation (t _50% 3.3 min) based on the in vitro drug release characteristics compared to conventional commercial tablets formulation (t _50% 17.4 min). Short-term stability studies on the formulations indicated that there are no significant changes in drug content and in vitro dispersion time (p<0.05).

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni that conventionally propagated by seed or by cuttings or clump division which has a limitation of quality and quantity seed material. In present study, callus culture technique was tried to achieve rapid plant multiplication for quality seed material. Callus induction and multiplication medium was standardized from nodal as well as leaf sagments. It is possible to maintain callus on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 6-benzyl amino purine and naphthalene acetic acid. Maximum callus induction was obtained on Murashige and Skoog medium incorporated with 6-benzyl amino purine (2.0-3.0 mg/l) and naphthalene acetic acid (2.0 mg/l) treatments. However, Murashige and Skoog medium containing 2.0 mg/l 6-benzyl amino purine+2.0 mg/l naphthalene acetic acid was found to be the best for callus induction. Higher regeneration frequency was noticed with Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/l 6-benzyl amino purine+0.2 mg/l naphthalene acetic acid. Regenerated plants were rooted better on ¼ Murashige and Skoog strength supplemented with 0.1 mg/l indole-3-butyric acid. The rooted plantlets were hardened successfully in tera care medium with 63 per cent survival rate. The developed protocol can be utilized for mass production of true to type planting material on large scale independent of season, i.e. external environmental conditions.

A highly sensitive differential pulse polarographic method has been developed for the estimation of tegaserod maleate after treating it with hydrogen peroxide solution. The oxidation of tegaserod maleate is a reversible process as the oxidized product could be reduced at hanging mercury drop electrode in a quantitative manner using differential pulse polarography mode. The limit of quantification was 0.1ng/ml. The voltametric peak was obtained at -1.05 volts in presence of 0.1M potassium chloride as supporting electrolyte. The technique could be used successfully to analyze tegaserod maleate in its tablet formulation.

A simple reverse phase liquid chromatographic method has been developed and subsequently validated for simultaneous determination of salbutamol sulphate and bromhexine hydrochloride. The separation was carried out using a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile, methanol and phosphate buffer, pH 4 in the ratio 60:20:20 v/v. The column used was SS Wakosil-II C-18 with a flow rate of 1 ml/min and UV detection at 224 nm. The described method was linear over a concentration range of 10-110 µg/ml and 20-140 µg/ml for the assay of salbutamol sulphate and bromhexine hydrochloride, respectively. The mean recovery was found to be 95-105% for salbutamol sulphate and 96.2-102.1% for bromhexine hydrochloride when determined at five different levels.

Catalase activities have been evaluated in testes and caput and cauda epididymis of Wistar rats fed on zinc deficient diet for 2 and 4 weeks. The enzyme activity has been measured as chromic acetate formed by heating of dichromate (in acetic acid) in presence of H ₂ O ₂ with perchromic acid as an unstable intermediate. Observed non-significant increase in catalase activity in testes as well as in caput and cauda epididymis of 2 weeks experiments has been related to low levels of H ₂ O ₂ produced in two organs whereas significant (P<0.01/0.001) increase in catalase activity in 4-weeks experiments indicate for increased oxidative stress due to phagocytotic activity of Sertoli cells in testes and damaged spermatozoa in epididymis. Thus, zinc deficiency increases catalase activity in testes and epididymis.

An accurate, specific and precise assay level gradient reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for simultaneous determination of montelukast sodium and bambuterol hydrochloride in tablet dosage form. An inertsil ODS C-18, 5 µm column having 250×4.6 mm I.D. in gradient mode, with mobile phase A, containing 0.025 M sodium phosphate buffer: methanol (85:15) and mobile phase B, containing acetonitrile:methanol (85:15) was used at different time intervals. The flow rate was 1.5 ml/min and effluent was monitored at 218 nm. The retention times of montelukast sodium and bambuterol hydrochloride were 21.2 min and 5.8 min respectively. The linearity for both the drugs was in the range of 0.25-0.75 mg/ml with correlation coefficients of 0.9999 and 0.9996 for montelukast sodium and bambuterol hydrochloride, respectively.

A simple, sensitive, rapid, accurate and precise spectrophotometric method has been developed for estimation of ropinirole hydrochloride in bulk and tablet dosage forms. Ropinirole hydrochloride shows maximum absorbance at 250 nm with molar absorptivity of 8.703×10 ³ l/mol.cm. Beer's law was obeyed in the concentration range of 5-35 µg/ml. Results of analysis were validated statistically and by recovery studies.

In the present investigation, two new series, 1-(4-benzylphenyl)-3-(5-substituted-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)-1-propanone and 1-(4-ethylphenyl)-3-(5-substituted-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)-1-propanone from β-(4-benzylbenzoyl)propionic acid and β-(4-ethylbenzoyl)propionic acid, respectively, were synthesized and tested for antiinflammatory, analgesic, lipid peroxidation, ulcerogenic and antibacterial actions. A fair number of compounds were found to have good antiinflammatory activity in carrageenan-induced rat paw edema test, while a few compounds showed significant antibacterial activity. The newly synthesized compounds showed very low ulcerogenic action.

Two simple and sensitive visible spectrophotometric methods have been developed for the quantitative estimation of ketotifen fumarate from its tablet formulation. The developed methods are based on formation of chloroform extractable colored complex of with 2-nitroso- napthol-4- sulphonic acid and rhodizonic acid. The extracted complex of drug with 2-nitroso- napthol-4- sulphonic acid (method-I), showed absorbance maxima at 436.5 nm and with rhodizonic acid (method-II), showed absorbance maxima at 489.5 nm. The linearity range for both the developed methods was observed in the concentration range of 50-250 µg/ml of drug. Results of analysis for both the developed methods were validated statistically and by recovery studies.

Aqueous extract of roots of Baliospermum montanum was evaluated on preliminary basis for immunomodulatory activity by studying neutrophil phagocytic function. The different concentration of (25, 50, 100 mg/ml) of aqueous extract of roots of Baliospermum montanum was subjected to study its effect on different in vitro methods of phagocytosis such as neutrophil locomotion, chemotaxis, immunostimulant activity of phagocytosis of killed Candida albicans and qualitative nitroblue tetrazolium test by using human neutrophils. This preliminary study revealed that Baliospermum montanum extract has stimulated chemotactic, phagocytic and intracellular killing potency of human neutrophils at the different concentration. From the results obtained it can be observed that the aqueous extract of Baliospermum montanum stimulate cell-mediated immune system by increasing neutrophil function.

A simple, precise, accurate and rapid high performance thin layer chromatographic method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous estimation of valsartan and hydrochlorothiazide in combined dosage forms. The stationary phase used was precoated silica gel 60F ₂₅₄ . The mobile phase used was a mixture of chloroform: methanol: toluene: glacial acetic acid (6:2:1:0.1 v/v/v/v). The detection of spots were carried out at 260 nm. The method was validated in terms of linearity, accuracy, precision and specificity. The calibration curve was found to be linear between 300 to 800 ng/spot for valsartan and 100 to 600 ng/spot for hydrochlorothiazide. The limit of detection and the limit of quantification for the valsartan were found to be 100 and 300 ng/spot respectively and for hydrochlorothiazide 30 and 100 ng/spot respectively. The proposed method can be successfully used to determine the drug content of marketed formulation.

Small intestine plays an important role in the first-pass metabolism of orally ingested xenobiotics as a result of expression of both Phase I and Phase II metabolic enzymes, together with associated transporters. Intestinal microsomes thus can be used to study susceptibility of compounds to metabolism in vitro. The present study was undertaken to have a comparative assessment between different methods of preparation of rodent intestinal microsomes. Mouse and rat intestinal microsomes were prepared by two methods, in method A intestines were homogenized, while in method B mucosal cells were scrapped followed by homogenization. Further, microsomes were prepared by centrifugation (10000xg) followed by ultra centrifugation (100000xg) of the homogenates. The prepared microsomes were characterized for protein concentration using Bradford's method and CYP450 content using carbon monoxide bubbling method. The protein concentration and CYP450 content in microsomes prepared by method B was significantly higher than method A. In conclusion, superior quality intestinal microsomes can be obtained from rodents by using scrapped intestinal mucosal cells as compared to the intestinal homogenates.

Waxes have been used in many cosmetic preparations and pharmaceuticals as formulation aids. Rice bran wax is a byproduct of rice bran oil industry. Present investigation has been aimed to explore the possible utility of rice bran wax as ointment base compared to standard base. The rice bran wax obtained, purified and its physicochemical characteristics were determined. Ointment base acts as a carrier for medicaments. The ointment base composition determines not only the extent of penetration but also controls the transfer of medicaments from the base to the body tissues. Rice bran wax base was compared with standard base for appearance, spreadability, water number, wash ability and diffusibility. The results show that rice bran wax acts as an ointment base as far as its pharmaceutical properties are concerned and it could effectively replace comparatively costlier available ointment bases.

In a wide search program towards new and efficient antibacterial agents, we assessed the extent to which physicochemical properties can be exploited to promote antibacterial activity associated with a series of substituted s-triazine. The synthesized compounds (1a-12b) were subsequently screened for their in vitro antibacterial activity against three gram positive ( Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus ) and three Gram-negative microorganism ( Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella aerogenes ) by the broth dilution technique, recommended by European Committee for antimicrobial susceptibility testing with reference to streptomycin.

Solubility enhancement of antimicrobial drug enrofloxacin has been studied using a series of co-solvents and surfactants. Aqueous solubility of enrofloxacin could be increased up to 26 times. Co-solvents alone produced only small increase in solubility. However, the combined effect of co-solvents and buffer was synergistic and a large increase in solubility could be attained. Ionic surfactants were found to be much better solubilizing agents than non-ionic surfactant. Amongst ionic surfactants, solubility was found to be very high in anionic surfactant, sodium dodecylsulphate as compared to the cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. Up to 3.8 mg/ml of enrofloxacin could be dissolved in sodium dodecylsulphate. Mechanism of solubilization has been proposed and surfactant solubilization parameters have been calculated.

The purpose of this research is to formulate and evaluate the suitability of pluronic lecithin organogels containing flurbiprofen for topical application. Four formulations were developed using flurbiprofen, lecithin, Pluronic F127, isopropyl palmitate, water, sorbic acid and potassium sorbate were coded as FL1, FL2, FL3 and FL4. All the formulations carried 30% w/w of lecithin phase and 70% w/w of Pluronic phase. The formulated organogels were evaluated for appearance and feel psychorheologically, in vitro diffusion study, drug content, viscosity and pH. Release of flurbiprofen from all formulations was monitored via dialysis membrane-70 and Wistar rat skin as a semipermeable membrane into phosphate buffer saline (0.2 M, pH 7.4) using Keshary-Chien diffusion cell. The viscosities of different formulations were determined by using Brookfield Viscometer at 25°. An attempt has been made to explore the potential of pluronic lecithin organogels for topical delivery of flurbiprofen.

Several 4-arylidene-2-phenyl-1-(2,4,5-trichlorophenyl)-1H-imidazol-5(4H)-ones (4a-q), N-(4-benzylidene-5-oxo-2-phenyl-4,5-dihydroimidazol-1-yl)-4-chlorobenzamides (5a-o) and N-(4-benzylidene-5-oxo-2-phenyl-4,5-dihydroimidazol-1-yl)-2,4-dichlorobenzamides (6a-m) were prepared. All newly synthesized compounds have been tested for their antibacterial activity against gram (+)ve and gram (-)ve bacteria and also on different strains of fungi. Introduction of OH, OCH ₃ , NO ₂ , Cl and Br groups to the heterocyclic frame work enhanced antibacterial and antifungal activities.

A simple, precise, accurate and rapid high performance thin layer chromatographic method has been developed and validated for the estimation of emtricitabine and tenofovir simultaneously in combined dosage form. The stationary phase used was precoated silica gel 60F 254.The mobile phase used was a mixture of chloroform: methanol (9:1 v/v). The detection of spots was carried out at 265 nm. The method was validated in terms of linearity, accuracy, precision and specificity. The calibration curve was found to be linear between 200 to 1000 ng with regression coefficient of 0.9995.The proposed method can be successfully used to determine the drug content of marketed tablet formulation.

A new, simple, rapid, accurate and precise HPTLC method was developed. The detector response was linear for concentrations between 100-600 ng/spot (r =0.9931). The limits of detection and quantitation were 25 ng/spot and 75 ng/spot, respectively. The recovery study was carried out by standard addition method and was found to be 99.60±0.27. Statistical analysis proved that the method was precise, accurate and reproducible, and hence was suitable for the routine analysis of artemisinin.

A simple and sensitive spectrophotometric method has been developed and validated for the estimation of metformin hydrochloride in bulk and in tablet formulation. The primary amino group of metformin hydrochloride reacts with ninhydrin in alkaline medium to form a violet colour chromogen, which is determined spectrophotometrically at 570 nm. It obeyed Beer's law in the range of 8-18 µg/ml. Percentage recovery of the drug for the proposed method ranged from 97-100% indicating no interference of the tablet excipients. The proposed method was found to be accurate and precise for routine estimation of metformin hydrochloride in bulk and from tablet dosage forms.

A new, simple, precise, rapid and accurate RP-HPLC method has been developed for the simultaneous estimation of cefpodoxime proxetil and clavulanic acid from pharmaceutical dosage forms. The method was carried out on a Zorbax Eclipse XDB 5 µ C 18 (150×4.6 mm) column with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile:50 mM potassium dihydrogen phosphate buffer (pH 3.0, 70:30 v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. Detection was carried out at 228 nm. Aspirin was used as an internal standard. The retention time of clavulanic acid, cefpodoxime proxetil and aspirin was 4.43, 6.44 and 5.6 min, respectively. The developed method was validated in terms of accuracy, precision, linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantification and solution stability. The proposed method can be used for the estimation of these drugs in combined dosage forms.

Stereospermum kunthianum, Cham, Sandrine Petit (family: Bignoniaceae) is used in traditional medicine to treat bronchitis, pneumonia and coughs, gastritis, wounds, rheumatic arthritis, ulcers, dysentery, leprosy and venereal diseases in humans. The antiinflammatory activity of the aqueous extract of the stem bark was investigated with experimental animal models using the carrageenan-induced paw oedema, leucocytes migration and granuloma air pouch tests in rats. The extract (100, 200 or 400 mg/kg) at 3 h post-treatment caused a significant (p<0.05) reduction in the paw oedema in rats. The effect of the extract was most pronounced at the dose of 400 mg/kg and was higher than that of indomethacin (10 mg/kg). The extract (400 mg/kg) caused a significant (p<0.05) reduction in the number of recruited leucocytes and it's inhibition of peritoneal exudate formation was comparable to that of indomethacin at a dose of 10 mg/kg. The exudate formation inhibited by 400 mg/kg of the extract in the granuloma air pouch test was comparatively less to that of indomethacin at a dose of 10 mg/kg. The findings of the study indicate that the aqueous extract of Stereospermum kunthianum stem bark possesses antiinflammatory activity which is probably related to the inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis. This is a possible rationale for its folkloric use as an antiinflammatory agent.