Polymer coating procedure for avoiding phenolic compounds degradation in Melissa officinalis based pellets

S. ARCE; A. PAREDES; C. CASADO; S. CERUTTI; J. LLABOT; M.R. GOMEZ

Córdoba

Simposio; 3° Reunión Internacional de Ciencias Farmacéuticas ? RICiFa 2014; 2014

Departamento de Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Departamento de Farmacia, Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario

The official drug Melissa officinalisL. (Lamiaceae) ?melisa? is widely cultivated throughout the world because of itsmedicinal properties. M. officinalis is rich interpenoids, flavonoids and phenolic acid derivatives, with rosmarinic acid (RA)as the main component, generally used as analytical marker in the qualitycontrol assays. However,it is well known that phenolic compoundsare sensitive to many different factors such as high temperature, UVradiation, air oxygen and metal ions. For this reason, strategiesto avoid the phenolic components degradation are necessary. In the presentwork, ?melisa? based dried extracts were obtained and used for pelletspreparation. Also, a procedure for protecting unstable components was appliedto the pellets.Infusionsof M. officinalis were preparedaccording to FNA VI ed. (10% w/v) and dried in a Mini-spray BÜCHI Dryer 290,inlet temperature ranging between 90 and 140 °C, with Aerosil ® as carrier. Arheological study of the dried extracts was performed, the obtained solidsshowed good compressibility and fluidity.Bymodifying different parameters in the granulation process and usingsequentially the procedures of extrusion and spheronization, the dried extractmaterial was used for pellets preparation. The nature and quantity offormulation components, was also evaluated. Apolymer film coating was applied to the pellets with the aim of protecting thephenolic compounds against humidity and temperature effects. Suspensions withdifferent percentages of polymer were evaluated for applying an optimal coatingfilm to the pellets. The polymer selected for the coating was Opadry® AMB in aconcentration of 20% (w/v). The coated pellets were used for gelatin capsulesfilling. The content of RA in the coated pellets was LC-MS/MS analyzed showing thatthe degradation of phenolic compounds was avoided with the described coatingprocedure.