Abstract

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF HYDROGEL FILMS OF BROMELAIN

Prasuna Sundari Pingali* and Pravallika Palle

ABSTRACT

Wound healing is a process of repair of damaged tissue and regeneration of new tissue. This natural physiological process happens in four stages viz., hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation and maturation. Wound debridement is known to hasten the process of wound healing. Proteolytic enzymes are significant wound debriding agents. Bromelain is a proteolytic enzyme extracted from the stem and fruit of pineapple. Various research works demonstrated bromelain to possess fibrinolytic, antiedematous, antithrombotic, anti-inflammatory and other pharmacological and therapeutic activities. Objective of this research work was to formulate and evaluate hydrogel films of bromelain to facilitate wound healing. Films of bromelain were formulated using HPMC K-100M, Carbopol 934 and Guar gum. Ethyl cellulose and polyvinyl acetate were included to improve structural integrity of the films. All the formulated films were evaluated for folding endurance, thickness, gel fraction, swelling index and solubility. Evaluation data demonstrated the suitability of the hydrogel film GF2 which has been formulated using guar gum and ethyl cellulose. It showed better gel fraction 88%, solubility -50.25±0.372 and swelling index 355%. Drug content and drug release studies were performed by demonstrating the proteolytic activity CDU/gm of the released drug at regular time intervals. GF2 demonstrated 100% cumulative drug release in 3 hrs. However, in vivo studies are to be carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of bromelain hydrogel film in wound healing.

Keywords: Hydrogel films, bromelain, wound healing, solvent casting method, proteolytic activity.