Electrospray technique for cocrystallization of phytomolecules

Poor aqueous solubility of most of the phytomolecules has restricted their vital biological use. Cocrystal approach can be one of the remedies for the problem. The present work was carried out with an objective to screen the potential of electrospray technique towards cocrystallization of quercetin (QUE). QUE was cocrystallized with caffeine (CAF) and nicotinamide (NIC) as coformers. Saturated methanolic solutions of QUE with either of the coformers (CAF and NIC) in 1:1 ratio were electrosprayed at 40 °C. The technique was successfully used for cocrystallization of QUE with CAF and NIC separately as revealed by Powder X-ray Diffraction, Differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy studies. Additionally, the results of saturation solubility study suggested 14 and 11 folds increase in solubility of QUE upon its cocrystallization with CAF and NIC respectively. Herein we propose a new technique for cocrystallization and in turn resolving solubility issues of phytomolecules which can be an alternative to the existing cocrystallisation techniques

EFFECT OF METFORMIN ON HEART RATE VARIABILITY IN NEWLY DIAGNOSED TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS PATIENTS AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

OBJECTIVES – There is a worldwide epidemic of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). It is associated with cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy. Heart rate variability (HRV) is the gold standard for its measurement. Thus, effect of metformin therapy on HRV was evaluated in newly diagnosed T2DM patients. METHODS – This was a prospective, observational study carried out from January 2020 to September 2021 in the medicine outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in Gujarat, India. The study included newly diagnosed T2DM patients of both genders aged 18-70 years. Baseline HRV parameters were recorded by performing electrocardiogram for a fixed duration of 5 minutes. Follow up was done after 6 months of metformin 500 mg monotherapy. Time domain analysis was done using square root of mean square of successive R-R interval difference (RMSSD) and frequency domain analysis was done using low frequency/high frequency (LF/HF) ratio. Paired t-test was used for analysis. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS – A total of 30 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 43.5 ± 4.5 years. The highest number of patients were from age group between 41-50 years (33.3%). There were more number of females (56.7%) compared to males (43.3%). There was an increase in the RMSSD value after metformin treatment, but it was not statistically significant (P= 0.308). In frequency domain analysis, there was no significant improvement in LF, HF as well as LF/HF ratio (P = 0.655).   CONCLUSION – There was a minor improvement in HRV parameters after six months of metformin therapy, but it was not statistically significant. Further studies with larger sample size should be planned with one or more oral hypoglycaemics

Development and validation of novel stability indicating RP-HPLC method for the determination of assay of voriconazole in pharmaceutical products

For the determination of the assay of voriconazole in bulk and in pharmaceutical dosage forms, a novel stability indicating RP-HPLC method was designed and validated, exhibiting a very low run time. The stability-indicating nature of the approach is supported by the fact that it is unique, quick, precise, accurate, and capable of isolating the voriconazole peak from any contaminating or degrading components. Isocratic elution on a 100 mm x 4.6 mm, 3μm agilent C18 column at 45°C and a UV detection wavelength of 256 nm constitutes the analytical procedure at at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. After injecting 20µL of voriconazole sample, the elution peak occurred at 3.5 minutes, and the entire run time was 15 minutes. Between 98% and 102% was a reasonable range for the percentage of recovery. It was determined that the method's RSD for precision and accuracy was less than 2%. The method has been verified for routine analysis of voriconazole in bulk materials and its formulations according to the standards established by the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH)