Development and evaluation of herbal patches containing lysiphyllum strychnifolium stem extract

Abstract

The topical route of administration is among the most convenient routes of administering drugs compared to traditional routes. Topical routes have several advantages, including local drug release, ease of application, and patient compliance due to the absence of first-pass biotransformation. Thai herbs are utilized in alternative medicine to treat ailments in humans. They are economically and culturally important in Thailand. The aim of this study was to prepare herbal patches containing L. strychnifolium stem extracts using pectin and Eudragit® NM 30D with glycerin as a plasticizer. Astilbin was selected as a chemical marker in the L. strychnifolium stem extracts, which exhibited a statistically significant decrease in nitrate accumulation. The various properties of the herbal patches were not significantly different from those of blank patches. The herbal patches had compatible, uniform, and compact blended compositions. The astilbin content in herbal patches ranged from 52.72–63.36 μg/cm2. The trend of properties and in vitro release of astilbin depended on the amount of Eudragit® NM 30D. The kinetics of astilbin release were fitted to the Korsmeyer–Peppas equation. The P1NM0.5E formula demonstrated superior astilbin permeation with 59.16 percent permeation from the donor chamber through the pig skin into the receptor medium in 24 hours. Therefore, a skin penetration enhancer was necessary and will be investigated in further studies