Shraddha Institute Of Pharmacy Washim- 444505.
Medicago sativa (alfalfa) has a long history of traditional use. Several studies indicate that the ingestion of M. sativa reduces cholesterol absorption and atherosclerotic plaque formation in animals arud has been reported to be beneficial in the treatment of hemorrhage, as a tonic after blood loss and during anemia. afalfa is a perennial flowering herb plant in the pea family Fabaceae, and botanically known as Medicago sativa. The Alfalfa is one of the most reputed medicinal plants that grows up to three feet in height with sprightly green leaves and flowers which are bluish-violet in colour (Bagavathiannan and Van Acker, 2009). The Alfalfa plantis beneficial to both humans and animals. Humans benefit from Alfalfa sprouts, tender stems, dehydrated Alfalfa leaf (available as a dietary supplement in forms such as tablets, powders and tea), while animals enjoy its benefits in the form of forage, harvested hay and feed. M. sativa has a long tradition of use as ayurvedic and homoeopathic medicine in central nervous system disorders. medicinal plant alfalfa leaf extract was used as an antihemorrhagic, antimicrobial, and antifungal agent and applied to cotton fabrics.The Medicago sativa herb exhib- ited good antimicrobial and antihemorrhagic properties for medicinal applications.
Tablets are the solid dosage form containing medicament or medicaments, usually circular in shape and may be flat or biconvex.
Types of Tablets-
Advantages of tablet :
Disadvantages of Tablet:
Alfalfa herb:
Alfalfa herb
Synonyms:
Lucerne, Medicago sativa, Purple Medick, Buffalo herb
Biological Source:
It is the dried whole herb, including blossoms of Medicago sativa
Family
Leguminoceae Fabaceae.
Geographic Information:
Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nova, Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan
Chemical constituents:
Leaves, sprouts and seed contain vitamin-K, vitamin-C. copper. Manganese, folate, thiamine, riboflavin, magnesium and iron. One cup of sprouts contains one gram of protein and one gram of carbohydrates. It also has a high content of bioactive compounds like saponins, coumarins, flavonoids, phytosterols, phytoestrogens and alkaloids
Organoleptic Character:
Trifoliate leaves, with long narrow leaflets serrated at the tips. Stipules are large anointed. Flower is commonly purple but may vary among shades of white, yellow and purple. Deep taproot
Morphological Character:
Alfalfa has a deep root that reaches down to 4 m, but can reach 7-9 m in well drained soils. Its stems are erect or decumbent, up to 1 m high, glabrous or hairy in the upper parts. Leaves are trifoliate, with obovate leaflets, 10-45 mm long and 3-10 mm broad.
Use Dose:
Pre formulation of alfalfa tablet:
Organoleptic properties:
An Sample includes studied by organoleptic property of the drug Colour, odour and taste visual inspection.
Angle of repose :
Angle of repose is defined as the maximum angle possible between the surface of pile of powder and the horizontal plane.
Angle of repose = tan ? =h/r
Bulk Density:
Bulk density of a powder is defined as the ratio of the mass of the powder and it’s bulk volume.
Bulk density = mass of powder/ bulk volume
Tapped density:
The tapped density is an increased bulk density attained after mechanical tapping of container the sample. The inter particular interaction influence bulking properties and interface with powder flow.
Tapped density = mass of powder/ tapped volume
Carr’s Index:
Carr’s Index an indication of the compressibility of a powder.
Carr’s Index = (tapped density-bulk density) /tapped density
Hausner Ratio:
The Hauser Ratio is a number that is correlated to the Flowability of a powder or granule material.
The Hausner Ratio is calculated by the Formula.
H = T/B
Where,
B- bulk density of the powder
T-Tapped density of the powder
Formulation of alfalfa tablet:
The following steps are involved during the manufacturing of compressed tablet:
Preparation of granules for compression it include-
Preparation of Granules for Compression
The following steps are involved during the preparation of granule
The ingredients should be weight accurately using a balance of good quality. There should be a double check on the weighing in order to rule out any human error
The ma objective of mixing the medicaments and excipients is to prepare homogeneous mass, so that uniform tablets can be manufactured. Mixing of ingredients should be done in an ascending order of their weight.
The cryst line medicament can be compressed to get good quality compresse tablets. In case the medicaments along with excipients are in powder from it cannot be compressed as such into tablets because.
Wet Granulation Method
Formulation table:
Alfalfa tablet
Compression of granules into tablets:
The dried granules are compressed into tablets in a machine known as a tablet making machine. The following machine used for this purpose • Single punch tablet machine: The single punch tablet machine has the following major parts as shown in Fig.
Working of tablet making machine:
Several movements takes place at a time to form a tablet in a tablet making machine.
Evaluation of alfalfa tablet :
Shape of tablets.
In the pharmacopoeia the shape of a tablet is defined as circular with flat or convex faces.
Appearance:
When a broken section of an uncoated tablet is examined under a lens, either a relatively uniform texture (single-layer tablets) or a stratified structure (multi-layer tablets) is seen Should be no signs of coating There Coated tablets have a smooth and often colour surface.
Content of active ingredient in tablets:
The amount of active ingredient in tablet is determined by doing the assay as stated in the monograph. Generally 20 tablets or such other number as may be indicated in the monograph are used in the assay. The result lies within the range for the content of active ingredient stated in the monograph. Where 20 tablets cannot be obtained, a smaller number, which must not be less than 5, may be used. In such cases, the limits specified in the Weight variation test :- It is desirable that every individual tablet in a batch should be uniform in weight, but a small variation the weight of the individual tablet is liable to occur Therefore a lit variation is allowed in the weight of a tablet by the pharmacoperia. The following percentage deviation in weight variation is allowed. Weigh 20 tablets selected at random and determine their average weight. Not more than 2 of the individual weights may deviate from the average weight by more than the percentage deviation given in the Table 14-3 and none should deviate by more than twice that percentage.
Friability Test:
Normally during the course of compression of tablets a sufficient pressure is applied on the granules, so that the tablets can withstand the wear and tear during transportation and handling. But inspite of observing all the precautions, the tablets show considerable powdering after normal handling, giving an undesirable appearance. Friability test is performed to evaluate the ability of the tablet to withstand wear and tear in packing, handling and transporting. The apparatus used to perform this test is known as “Friabilator” The apparatus consists of a plastic chamber, which is divided into two parts and it revolves at a speed of 25 r.p.m Twenty tablets are weighed and placed in the plastic chamber. The chamber is rotated for 4 minutes or 100 revolutions. During each revolution the tablet falls from a distance of 6 inch. The tablets are removed for the chamber after 100 revolutions and weighed. Loss in weight indicates the friability. The tablets are considered to be of good quality if the loss in weight is less than 0.8%.
Hardness Test:
The Pharmacopæia has not fixed any standard for the mechanical strength or hardness of tablets. The manufacturer have employed their own tests to ensure that their tablets will withstand the normal risk of handling and transportation. The following devices are commonly used by manufacturers to find out the mechanical strength of tablets:
Monsanto hardness tester:
The Monsanto Chemical Cot Lad had designed spring-pressure device to test the hardness of a tablet. It has a graduated scale which gives the reading in Kg/Sq cm. The tablet to be tested is placed between the spindle and the anvil. The desired pressure needed to hold the tablet in position is applied by moving the screw knob in clockwise direction. The scale is moved so that the indicator is fixed at zero. The pressure is then applied till the tablet breaks. The reading is noted, which indicates the pressure which is needed to break the tablet.
Pfizer tablet hardness tester:
It is bases on the principle of an ordinary plier Pfizer tablet hardness tester is a pfizer fitted with a pressure dial. The tablet is placed between the jaw of the plier and pressure is applied by pressing the handles with hand unit until the tablet breaks. The reading of the dial indicates the pressure needed to break the tablet.
Disintegration Test:
Disintegration of a tablet means to break the tablet into smaller particles after swallowing The time required to disintegrate the tablet is called “Disintegration Time” The rate of disintegration depends upon the type of the tablet. The tablets re dissolved by slow solution in the mouth or chewed or are to which are be dissolved in water before administration, do not need a disintegration test. The test of disintegration is required in tablets which are swal-lowed. The rate of disintegration differs from tablet to tablet because the nature of the drug. In some cases the disintegration time is as short as one minute and in other cases it may be as long as 30 mts. In general, Pharmacopeia prescribed a limited of 15 mts, For most of the tablets, unless otherwise indicated in the monograph.
Dissolution test:
The test is done for measuring the amount of time required for a given percentage of the drug substance in a tablet to go into solution under specified condition in vitro. The apparatus used for the test is as per specification given in IP. Place 1000 ml of water which should be free from dis. Solved air and previously warmed to 36.5° to 37.5° into the vessel. Place the specified number of tablets in the dry basket. Set the apparatus. Start the motor and adjust the rotation speed to 100 rpm or as directed in the monograph Withdraw the stated volume of solution from the vessel after 45 minutes or after the time specified in the monograph. Filter and determine the amount of active ingredient present in it by the method given in the monograph. Repeat the complete operation 4 times. The tablets pass the test if for each of the five tablets, the amount of active ingredient in solution is not less than 70 per cent of the stated amount. In case where two or more tablets are directed to be placed together in the basket for each test in the five replicate test, the amount of active ingredient in solution per tablet in each test should not be less than 70 per cent of the stated amount or of that specified in the monograph. No re-testing is allowed.
RESULTS:
Formulation and evulations of alfalfa tablet has been performed sucessfully . Generally herbal preparations are known for its “No side effect” property. The results of this project is that formulation and evulations of alfalfa tablet perform successfully
CONCLUSION:
I have been conclude that herbal drugs rather than used in synthetic drug which may have various side effects herbal drug may not have side effect as synthetic drug herbal drug like alfalfa can used to treat various diseases. Alfalfa leaves extract was found to possess various beneficial constituent like alkaloids, phenolics and flavonoids together with isoflavonoids. The antidepressant, anticonvulsant, antianxiety and antioxidant activities are observed in both the herbal drugs. This could be due to presence of above described various active compounds. Pre-formualtion studies on the powder included measuring its angle of repose, bulk density etc. The findings confirmed that the particles were not freely flowing. So the compression of drugs was executed by using wet granulation method. The tablets hardness, weight variation, friability, disintegration time and dissolution were all evaluated. The findings confirmed that formulations were employed effectively inside the clinical method of rapid-dissolving drugs. Magnesium stearate become the fine remarkable disintegrant for the formulation of alfalfa tablets. Further experiment on evaluation of different extraction methods in order have herbal drugs like alfalfa have been used to treat various diseases. From this study I came to know the various chemotherapeutic activity and various additional uses of alfalfa and the techinque of performing formulation of alfalfa tablet.
REFERENCES
Vaishnavi P. Lande , Harishkumar Rathod , Swati Deshmukh , Saloni S. Bangar, Formulation And Evaluations Of Alfalfa Tablet, Int. J. of Pharm. Sci., 2024, Vol 2, Issue 8, 3533-3540. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13350551
10.5281/zenodo.13350551
