Properties of guar gum - Dead sea salt (GG-DSS) medicated gel

Abstract

Objective: The main objective of this study is to understand the viscoelastic nature of Guar Gum - Dead Sea Salt (GG-DSS) based polymeric gel, a semisolid product; which is prepared with all natural ingredients to achieve finally a pharmaceutical value oriented medicated gel. Methods: The GG-DSS gel was prepared at room temperature (20-22 oC) in two series using the following compositions: guar gum, Dead Sea salt, glycerol, thymol, ethanol, seabuckturn oil, essential oils etc. by applying simple slow stirring method. Further, to investigate the basic properties of the GG-DSS gel i. e. moisture content, morphology, physico-chemical, antibacterial and rheological properties, standard methods were carried out. Special attention was paid to the dynamic viscoelastic behaviour of GG-DSS gel in order to obtain the fundamental data for handling of this medicated gel in the future. The influence of the content of GG, DSS and strain on the rheological properties as a function of angular frequency was recorded. Results: The viscoelastic properties of all GG-DSS medicated gels show that the storage modulus G’ is higher than loss modulus G” over the whole range of angular frequency (ω) region, and both moduli increase monotonously with the increase of ω. The complex viscosity, η* decreases exponentially with the increase of ω, however, there is not much influence of strain on the viscoelastic properties. Conclusion: Collected information about viscoelastic properties of semi-solid product (GG-DSS gel) will be beneficial for pharmaceutics and cosmetic manufacturers to understand the rheology of GG-DSS gel and can be used from the commercial production point of view. © 2015, International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. All rights reserved.