Physicochemical characterization and toxicological evaluation of plant-based anionic polymers and their nanoparticulated system for ocular delivery.

The water-soluble fractions of mucilages and gum from the seeds of fenugreek, isphagula and mango bark exudate were isolated, purified and characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), maldi/GC-MS, elemental analysis, 1D ((1)H and (13)C) and 2D (HMQC, COSY) nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). The fenugreek mucilage was identified to be a galactomannan chain consisting of 4 units of galactose attached to the backbone of 6 mannose units in 1:1.5 ratio. The isphagula mucilage was identified to be an arabinoxylan polysaccharide chain consisting of 4 units of arabinofuranose attached to the backbone of 9 xylopyrannose units in 1:3 ratio. The mango gum showed the presence of amylose, α-arabinofuranosyl and β-galactopyranosyl, respectively. The characterized mucilages and gum were individually formulated into nanoparticulate system using their complementarily charged polymer chitosan. The particles were observed to be spherical in shape in the range of 61.5-90 nm having zetapotential between 31 and 34 mV and PDI of 0.097-0.241. The prepared nanoparticles were observed to be nonirritant and nontoxic in vitro and in vivo upto 2000 μg/ml. Therefore, these mucilages and gum can be the alternatives of anionic polymers for the ocular drug delivery system.