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Background: Tea tree oil, also known as Melaleuca alternifolia essential oil is widely used in skin care cosmeceuticals for its antibacterial, antifungal, analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect. The complex and variable composition of the oil poses many challenges to the analytical chemist and a recent survey of analytical methods indicated only a few simple and validated methods for estimation of the oil. Aim: A quality by design approach has therefore been adopted to develop a simple and novel UV spectrophotometric method for estimation of tea tree oil in bulk and cosmeceutical creams. Materials and Methods: UV spectrophotometric method was developed for estimation of Tea tree oil using dichloromethane-methanol (54 % v/v) solvent system. The method was then validated under optimized conditions for accuracy, precision and ruggedness, limit of detection and limit of quantification as per ICH: Q2 (R 1) guidelines. Results: A characteristic spectral peak was observed at 267 nm and linearity was established over a concentration range of 10-160 mcg/ml with R 2 value of 0.9961. Accuracy based on recovery studies, 100.5-113.6 %, precision and ruggedness based on % RSD values less than 2 %, LOD, 0.1277mcg/ml and LOQ and 4.195 mcg/ml indicated that the method is sensitive enough to be used for routine estimation. Conclusion: The method is robust and has been used to determine the essential oil content of two cosmeceutical creams.

Nizatidine is an anti-secretogogue and a gastroprotective drug with a half-life of 1-2 h and is well absorbed in the stomach. This study aimed to optimize the process and develop floating microparticles of nizatidine that are based on low methoxyl pectin. Oil-in-oil dispersion method and Taguchi orthogonal array design were employed, and the prolonged residence time of the microparticles in the stomach was demonstrated. The constraints for independent variables, viz. A-polymer, B-internal solvent volume, C-surfactant, D-stirring rate and E-stirring time were set to generate the experimental runs. Particle size, percentage yield, micromeritic properties, entrapment efficiency, in vitro buoyancy and in vitro release were characterized. Surface morphology, zeta potential, in vitro release kinetics and in vivo floating performance of the optimized formulation was examined. The microparticles were free-flowing, irregular in shape and had a mean particle size distribution of 73-187 μ. Low methoxyl pectin played a predominant role in achieving buoyancy and optimum gastric retention for the modified release of the drug, suggesting Korsmeyer-Peppas model as the possible release mechanism. In vivo radiographic study in rabbits revealed that the drug was retained in the stomach for a period of 6 h. These results indicate that nizatidine floating microparticulate system provides modified drug release for the effective treatment of gastric ulcer.

Tea tree oil, an active ingredient of skin, hair and nail care cosmeceuticals, has claims for topical antimicrobial, analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity. Its complex composition is governed by ISO 4730:2017. Terpinene-4-ol is the principal constituent of the oil (35% - 48%) followed by γ-terpinene (14% -28%), α-terpinene (6%-12%) and 1,8-cineole (≤15%). A reversed-phase, isocratic high performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed and validated for routine determination of tea tree oil based on1,8-cineole content in bulk and commercially available cosmeceuticals using C18 column, methanol-water (70:30 v/v) as mobile phase and flow rate of 1mL/min. UV detection was done at 200 nm. Linearity of the method was established for 20-100μL/mL (R2 = 0.9992) with LOD, LOQ values of 0.5594 μL/mL and 5.5941μL/mL respectively. The % RSD values for robustness and precision were <1% and recovery ranged between 99.09-102.96%. The method was successfully applied for determination of 1,8-cineole content in cosmeceuticals.

Sumatriptan succinate (SS) is a drug used in the treatment of migraine headaches, but suffers from low patient compliance due to its unpalatable bitter taste. The purpose of the present work was to prepare taste-masked oro dispersible tablets (ODTs) of SS by incorporating drug loaded microspheres into tablets for use in patients experiencing difficulty in swallowing. Microspheres loaded with SS were prepared by solvent evaporation technique. Eudragit EPO, a pH-sensitive aminoalkylmethacrylate copolymer, was used for coating the drug particles, acetone as solvent for the polymer and light liquid paraffin as an encapsulating medium. Drug : polymer ratio of 1:1 was considered to be optimized formulation with a yield of 99.96%, entrapment efficiency of 61.55%, particle size ranging from 30.32 – 90.96μm and in vitro drug release of 85.06% within an hour. FTIR studies suggested absence of drug-excipient interaction. Tablets prepared by direct compression containing microspheres and effervescent agents were evaluated for pre-compression and post-compression parameters. The wetting time, in vitro dispersion time and in vitro disintegration time of the tablets were found to be 39 sec, 35 sec and 32 sec, respectively. The drug release from the tablet was about 85.44% within an hour. The SEM of final ODTs revealed that the microspheres remained intact even after compression. Stability studies indicated that the selected formulation was stable. The results obtained suggested that effective taste-masking was achieved for SS using the technique of microencapsulation and ODTs of acceptable characteristics were obtained by adding effervescent agents followed by direct compression.