Mucilage Extracted from Opuntia cochenillifera (DilangBaka Cactus) Pads as Potential Binder for Tablets

Abstract

Numerous illnesses spread because of the rapid changes in the environment resulting in higher demand for medications whose price increases as its production costs increases. Using synthetic polymers also can have negative tendencies on the tablet quality. The study aimed to determine the potential of using Opuntia cochenillifera mucilage in making tablet binder to solve an increase in expenditure for producing synthetic polymers commonly used in tablet binding. The mucilage of Opuntia cochenillifera was extracted through the ethanol method. The collected mucilage was freeze-dried and turned into granules by using the wet granulation method for tabletting. The mucilage and granules were tested using flowability tests. The tablets were tested for disintegration time and hardness. The Correlation Analysis was used to analysed the data. The angle of repose of the mucilage and granules were 26.57 degrees and 11.31 degrees respectively. The bulk and tapped density volume for the mucilage and granules were 6.8 ml, 6.55 ml and 8.4 ml and 8.1 ml. The percentcompressibility index and Hausner’s ratio for mucilage and granules were 2.94%, 1.03% and 3.6%, 1.03% respectively. Based on the data analysis, there was a high linear positive relationship (0.8147) between the tablet hardness and the disintegration time of the placebo tablets –the higher the tablet hardness, the longer the disintegration time. The result of the flowability tests wasexcellent also the tablets produced passed the disintegration time and hardness test. Therefore, the mucilage extracted from Opuntia cochenillifera can be usedas a tablet binder.