A STUDY OF THE LEACHING OF IONS FROM ADSORBENT MEDICINAL CLAYS AND THEIR EFFECT ON THE STABILITY OF PHARMACEUTICAL SUSPENSIONS
Date
1967-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
Since the time of Hippocrates, clays have been employed both internally and externally as remedies for various disease conditions. 'Terra sigitleta', or 'The earth imprinted with a seal' was an ancient clay tablet manufactured under official supervision. This imprinted clay is thought to be the origin of the modern trademark.
Galen and others wrote of the properties of the clays; at that time, clays were considered to be alexipharmics or alexitorics (terms used in ancient pharmacy to denote antidotes for certain ailments). Modern theories and experimentation with pharmaceutical clays seem to substantiate the ancient theories (1).
Clays have been shown to have remarkable adsorptive capacity for alkaloids, various dyes, and also for bacteria and their toxins. It is for this reason that clays are now extensively used in adsorbent intestinal preparations. The clay apparently serves two purposes in this type of preparation.
(1) The clay adsorbs toxins and bacteria which are often the cause of diarrhea.
(2) The clay coats the inflamed mucous membrane of the intestine(4).
Kaolin has been employed almost exclusively for centuries as the major adsorbent in pharmaceutical preparations used for adsorption of toxins in the intestine (2). Recently, a clay known as activated attapulgito has been introduced and has been found to be superior to
kaolin for this purpose (2,3,)
The name attapulgitel was first applied by De Lapparent In 1935 to a clay mineral constituent which he discovered near Attapulgus, Georgia. It has been found, that heating this clay in a certain manner will greatly increase its adsorptive and absorptive capacity (this will be discussed in greater detail), in which case, the clay is called 'activated attapulgitel (4).
Adsorbent pharmaceutical clays often exhibit stability problems upon being incorporated into liquid formulations.
Description
Keywords
ADSORBENT MEDICINAL CLAYS
Citation
Degree
Master of Science (M.Sc.)
Department
Pharmacy