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percentage of active ingredients, or to confer therapeutic enhancement on the active
ingredient such as enhancing solubility, facilitating drug absorption and lowering
viscosity. Starches, due to their poor flowability, cannot be utilized as excipients in
their native form. Modified starches as excipients are the non-active ingredients that
are vital for the manufacturing of solid drugs such as powders and tablets as they
facilitate powder flowability, exhibit non-stick properties, prevent aggregation or
denaturation of drug over the period of expected shelf life. In recent times, the most
preferred excipient in pharmaceutical industry is pregelatinized starch, marketed as
Starch 1500. Modified rice starch, starch acetate and acid hydrolyzed dioscorea
starch were established as multifunctional excipient in the pharmaceutical industry
recently.
Starch as Plasma Volume Expander
Plasma volume expanders are agents that boost the volume of plasma by increasing
the osmotic pressure. They are used for the treatment of patients suffering from
hemorrhage, shock and cancer. Acetylated and hydroxyethyl starch (HES) are
mainly used as plasma volume expanders.
Starch as Tablet Disintegrant
Modified starches are most commonly employed disintegrating agents in use today.
They are used in immediate release tablet formulations where the potent drug should
be available to the absorptive area instantaneously. Starches exhibit a great affinity
for water resulting in instant expansion and disintegration of tablets. Sodium carboxymethyl starch (marketed as sodium starch glycolate) is commonly used as a
disintegrant. Starches from various novel sources have been modified for the same
and have been made commercially available. These include low substitute CMS like
explotab, primogel and deprogel. These modified starches swell to the extent of
200–300% in water, in comparison to natural starches that increase in volume be
only 10–25%.
Starch in Bone Tissue Engineering
Several starch based biodegradable polymers have been used for bone tissue engineering (BTE) and in the development of BTE scaffolds (Gomes et al. 2003).
Scaffold, which is an important component in the engineering of hard tissues, permits the flow of culture media while providing cells with all the nutrients and simultaneously removing metabolites resulting from cell activities. Several methodologies
have been developed for manufacturing BTE scaffolds including compression
M. Ahmad et al.
percentage of active ingredients, or to confer therapeutic enhancement on the active
ingredient such as enhancing solubility, facilitating drug absorption and lowering
viscosity. Starches, due to their poor flowability, cannot be utilized as excipients in
their native form. Modified starches as excipients are the non-active ingredients that
are vital for the manufacturing of solid drugs such as powders and tablets as they
facilitate powder flowability, exhibit non-stick properties, prevent aggregation or
denaturation of drug over the period of expected shelf life. In recent times, the most
preferred excipient in pharmaceutical industry is pregelatinized starch, marketed as
Starch 1500. Modified rice starch, starch acetate and acid hydrolyzed dioscorea
starch were established as multifunctional excipient in the pharmaceutical industry
recently.
Starch as Plasma Volume Expander
Plasma volume expanders are agents that boost the volume of plasma by increasing
the osmotic pressure. They are used for the treatment of patients suffering from
hemorrhage, shock and cancer. Acetylated and hydroxyethyl starch (HES) are
mainly used as plasma volume expanders.
Starch as Tablet Disintegrant
Modified starches are most commonly employed disintegrating agents in use today.
They are used in immediate release tablet formulations where the potent drug should
be available to the absorptive area instantaneously. Starches exhibit a great affinity
for water resulting in instant expansion and disintegration of tablets. Sodium carboxymethyl starch (marketed as sodium starch glycolate) is commonly used as a
disintegrant. Starches from various novel sources have been modified for the same
and have been made commercially available. These include low substitute CMS like
explotab, primogel and deprogel. These modified starches swell to the extent of
200–300% in water, in comparison to natural starches that increase in volume be
only 10–25%.
Starch in Bone Tissue Engineering
Several starch based biodegradable polymers have been used for bone tissue engineering (BTE) and in the development of BTE scaffolds (Gomes et al. 2003).
Scaffold, which is an important component in the engineering of hard tissues, permits the flow of culture media while providing cells with all the nutrients and simultaneously removing metabolites resulting from cell activities. Several methodologies
have been developed for manufacturing BTE scaffolds including compression
M. Ahmad et al.