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UV-Visible Spectroscopic Analysis of Influence of
Trace Element Ions on Albendazole
Department of Physics, D.G. Vaishnav College, Chennai-600 106, India Prersent work aims to employ UV-Visible spectral analysis of an anthelmentic drug albendazole. This drug falls under the category ofWHO's model list of essential drugs for the eradication of helminthiasis.
The interaction of this drug with certain ions like sodium, calcium andpotassium which are present in blood as trace elements has been studiedwith the aid of UV-Visible spectroscopy as a tool.
Key Words: Albendazole, UV-Visible spectroscopy, Trace elements,
Anthelmentic.
INTRODUCTION
A drug may be defined as a substance used in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment or cure of disease in man or other animals. Fighting disease with drugs is the timelessstruggle and man's survival on this planet has depended upon its success1. Helmin-thiasis is a disease caused by infestation with parasitic worms living in the alimentarycanal and in the other tisues of the host. These parasites harm the host by deprivingthem of food, causing blood loss, injury to organs, intestinal or lymphatic obstructionand by secreting toxins. Helminthiasis is rarely fatal, but is a major cause of illhealth2. The control of worm-induced disease is a highly effective investment interms of health, education, poverty reduction and development which not only takesthe mankind onwards, but also upwards3. Deworming helps meet the millenniumdevelopment goals of the WHO it has urged for the creation of a global network formonitoring anthelmintic drug efficacy and drug resistance as a needed response tothis emerging threat4. UV-Visible spectroscopy being a simple, robust and widelyused tool, it has been employed to study the change in absorbance characteristics ofvarious drugs with ions in recent past5,6. In present work, the interaction of ananthelmentic drug albendazole with trace elemental ions present in the blood hasbeen attempted.
EXPERIMENTAL
High grade pure sample of albendazole was procured from reputed pharmaceu- tical firm in Chennai, India and used for spectral recording as such. The UV-Visiblespectral measurements were carried out using Shimadzu-160A spectrophotometer at Dr. Ceeal Analytical Lab, Chennai. Accurately weighed 100 mg of the drug wastaken in a100 mL standard flask to which 10 mL formic acid was added. The solutionsare made up to the mark by adding 0.1 M HCl and sonicated to ensure thoroughmixing of the contents. This drug solution was transferred into separate test tubesand further diluted to obtain drug concentrations of 2, 4, 6.20 µg mL-1. The absor-ption values for various concentrations of the drugs that fall within this linearityrange are used to plot the linearity curves. The absorbance value at 291 and 262 nmof albendazole are noted to study the linearity behaviour. After performing thelinearity studies, the mid concentration level of 10 µg mL-1 was chosen for furtherinteraction studies. The solutions of metal trace elemental ions were prepared bydissolving the appropriate quantities of suitable salts and further diluted to obtaintrace elemental concentrations of 10, 20, . 80 µg mL-1. Each trace elemental ionsolutions of different concentrations were made to interact with the albendazoledrug solution of 10 µg mL-1 concentration level and the absorbance characteristicsof the drug solution has been studied.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The drug albendazole, belongs to benzimidazole group of drug and is a broad- spectrum anthelmintics, meaning that it is used to treat a wide range of intestinal worms.
Albendazole has the IUPAC name methyl [(5-propylsulfanyl-3H-benzoimidazol-2-yl)amino]formate, while the Indian pharmacopoeia7 mentions it as methyl 5-propylthio-1H-benzimidazol-2-yl-carbamate having chemical formula of C12H15N3O2S. Recently,vibrational spectral and qualitative analysis have been reported on thisbenzamidazole group drug8 by employing FTIR, FT-Raman and UV-Visible spectro-scopic techniques. Albendazole shows two absorption peaks in UV-Visible regionat λ = 291 nm and at λ = 262 nm. UV-Visible spectrum of albendazole is given inFig. 1. The regression analysis by UV-Visible method done with the absorbancevalues for various concentrations yield the corresponding regression equations Y =0.0365X + 0.032 at λ = 291 nm and Y = 0.0278X + 0.0232 at λ = 262 nm. Thepearson correlation factor is greater than 0.99 indicating the excellent linearbehaviour of the drug in the chosen range of 2, 4, 6. 20 µg mL-1. The response ofthe body tissues to the drug is influenced by many factors such as age, body weight,gender, time and place factors, etc. The biological activity of the drugs can beconsiderably reduced or abolished by inducing a chemical change in the drug mole-cule. Some drugs are chelating agents which are capable of combining with certainmetallic ions like lead, mercury, arsenic, copper or iron. The commonly used tetra-cyclines chelate metal cofactors of bacterial enzymes5,9. In present work, in thepresence of trace elemental ion, the absorbance value gets altered and as the concen-tration of trace element increases, this value seems to be decreasing in every case,viz., sodium, potassium and calcium ions. These values are projected in Table-1and diagrammatically represented in Fig. 2. This is indicative that ions present inthe blood may have influential effect on the activity of the drug.
Influence of Trace Element Ions on Albendazole 659 Fig. 1. UV-Visible spectrum of albendazole 262nm-Na
291nm-Na
262nm-Ca
291nm-Ca
Trace element concentration (ppm)
Fig. 2. Variation in absorbance due to interaction with trace elements VARIATION OF ABSORBANCE OF ALBENDAZOLE WITH TRACE ELEMENTS Absorbance of drug in presence of trace elements λ = 262 nm λ = 291 nm λ = 262 nm λ = 291 nm λ = 262 nm λ = 291 nm Conclusion
The variation in the absorption level of the drug as interacts with various ions has been studied by employing UV-Visible spectroscopy. It is indicative that theabsorption characteristics of drug are influenced by the presence of various ionsand at various levels in the body.
REFERENCES
R.G. Chatwal, Synthetic Drugs, Himalaya Publishing House, Bombay, India (1990).
K.D. Tripathi, Essentials of Medical Pharmacology, Jaypee Brother Medical Publishers (P) Ltd.,New Delhi, India (2001).
World Health Organization Report of the Third Global Meeting of the Partners for ParasiteControl, Deworming for Health and Development, World Health Organization, Geneva (2004).
WHO Technical Report, Series. No. 912, Prevention and Control of Schistosomiasis and SoilTransmitted Helminthiasis, Geneva (2002).
S. Gunasekaran and G. Sankari, Acta Cien. Indica, 31, 61 (2005).
S. Gunasekaran and M.K. Devi, Asian J. Chem., 16, 183 (2004).
Indian Pharmacopoeia, Controller of Publications, New Delhi, India (1996).
S. Gunasekaran and D. Uthra, Asian J. Chem., 20, 6310 (2008).
F.S.K. Barar, Essentials of Pharmacotherapeutics, S. Chand and Co., New Delhi, India (1992).
(Received: 28 March 2009; Accepted: 14 September 2009) AJC-7884

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