Historically, herbal medicines have played a significant role in treating various illnesses. Specifically concerning diabetes, numerous plant-based remedies have been utilized to regulate blood sugar levels and improve insulin sensitivity. However, despite their popularity, many herbal medicines have poor solubility, leading to low bioavailability and the need for higher or repeated dosing, which can limit their therapeutic viability. Gymnema sylvestre, a well-known herb with a history in diabetes management, contains gymnemic acids face bioavailability challenges due to limited solubility, impacting it clinical efficacy. This study focuses on enhancing Gymnema sylvestre’s solubility and bioavailability using stimuli responsive nanogels with β-Cyclodextrin, cross-linked with Methacrylic Acids (MAA) through free radical polymerization. The optimized formulation NGT4, showed favorable characteristics: high drug entrapment, increased solubility, and a particle size of 200 nm. Analytical methods like FTIR, TGA/DSC, SEM, and PXRD confirmed the successful polymeric network and stable nanogel properties. In vitro release studies in acidic and basic media demonstrate controlled drug release, while in vivo tests confirmed the nanogel’s safety, biocompatibility, and effective hypoglycemic effects. The in vitro dissolution studies showed pH-dependent drug release behavior, and solubility studies demonstrated a significant increase in aqueous solubility, up to 5.67-folds. The nanogels were deemed safe in toxicity studies, suggesting their potential as carrier systems. In vivo, performance studies in test animals revealed that the absorption of the herbal extract was significantly increased, which ultimately resulted in better performance than that of the unformulated pure herbal extract. These findings suggest that pH-responsive nanogels are promising approach to improve the solubility and therapeutic performance of Gymnema sylvestre in diabetes management.
Atiq Ur Rahman, Muhammad Usman Minhas, Muhammad Sohail (2025) β-Cyclodextrin-based Stimuli-Responsive Nanogels for Gymnema sylvestre: Therapeutic Potential and Safety evaluation in Diabetic conditions
This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal (Polymer Bulletin).