Ex-vivo intestinal absorption study of boswellic acid, cyclodextrin complexes and poloxamer solid dispersions using everted gut sac technique.

Acetyl- Keto-β-boswellic acid (AKBA) is a pentacyclic triterpenic acid found in gum resin of Boswellia serrata. Even though it is shown to have anti-inflammatory activity, its bioavailability gets limited due to its poor aqueous solubility and permeability. The present study, hence, deals in enhancement of the intestinal absorption of AKBA from total boswellic acid fraction (TA fraction) using cyclodextrin (CD) and poloxamer solid dispersion (PXM SDs) formulations. Absorption studies were performed using the everted gut sac model prepared from rat jejunum. The glucose uptake assay was performed to show viability of gut sac tissue. The apparent permeability (Papp) value of AKBA from TA fraction was 1.08 ± 0.17 × 10-6 which was found to be increased by 10-14 fold with CD complex and SD formulations. The intestinal absorption studies showed highest absorption of AKBA from HP-β-CD complex and PXM 407 SD as compared to that from TA fraction. From this study, it can be concluded that HP-β-CD and PXM 407 effectively enhanced intestinal absorption through improved solubility, highlighting their role as efficient drug delivery agents and bioavailability enhancers.