Colocasia esculenta (C. esculenta) is a widely cultivated plant for consumption of both leaves and tubers. Taro, a common name for the corms and tubers of several genera of the family Araceae, is a source of edible corms of C. esculenta. It is majorly cultivated in Southeast Asia by several common names like Arbi, Arvi and Eddoe. From this species, a wide range of chemical compounds have been isolated for example, flavanoids, β-sitosterol, steroids, etc. Various parts of C. esculenta are used traditionally to treat number of diseases. Extracts from this plant have been found to possess various pharmacological activities. The leaves of this plant have been studied to possess antihelminthic, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory actions. There have also been reports proving hypoglycemic efficacy of C. esculenta due to the presence of cyanoglucoside. The present review tries to cover all the information available on research work of this plant in yesteryears in a nutshell with the intention to serve as a literature platform for further researches on this plant.

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Objective: Ondansetron hydrochloride belongs to the class of 5HT3 antagonists. It is approved by United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) to control chemotherapyinduced nausea and vomiting. The oral bioavailability of ondansetron is approximately 60%, indicating first pass metabolism. The present research work was carried out with an objective to increase the bioavailability of the drug ondansetron hydrochloride by developing its mouth dissolving film using taro gum in combination with HPMC E5.Method: Solvent precipitation method was used for extraction of polysaccharide. Polysaccharide (Taro gum) was extracted from tubers of Colocassia esculenta which was used as a polymer in film formulation. Films were formulated using solvent casting method. Xanthan gum, guar gum, sodium alginate, gum ghati and taro gum were used as polymer in film formulation. Concentration for taro gum was optimized. At this optimized concentration, films were formulated using other commercially available natural gums. These films were evaluated for various parameters like tensile strength, disintegration time, In vitro release and stability.Result: All the formulated films showed disintegration time less than 60 sec. The film formulated using taro gum showed better release profile, disintegration time and tensile strength than the films prepared using other commercially available gums. Taro film showed 90.64% release at the end of 5 minutes. Disintegration time of films prepared using taro gum was comparable to that of marketed film. Also, the film prepared using taro gum was more stable as compared to other films. Conclusion:Taro gum being extracted from edible tubers is non-toxic in nature. It can be extracted easily and successfully used in the development of mouth dissolving film of Ondansetron hydrochloride.