Scholarly Article
Letter to Editor "Formulation and evaluation of herbal paediatric edible jelly of Breynia vitis-idea for helminthic infections"
Vangoori, Dr. Yakaiah
2025-04-08 · International Journal of Current Research in Physiology and Pharmacology · Sumathi Publications
Abstract
Dear Editor, I read with interest the article titled "Formulation and evaluation of herbal paediatric edible jelly of Breynia vitis-idea forhelminthic infections" and appreciate the authors' effort to explore a child-friendly herbal dosage form for helminthicinfections, an area of practical relevance in paediatric therapeutics. However, we would like to highlight severalmethodological and interpretative issues that, in our view, warrant clarification and may help contextualize the findingsmore appropriately.A primary concern relates to the alignment between the study objective and the experimental evidence presented. Althoughthe title and conclusion emphasize a paediatric edible jelly formulation, the anthelmintic activity appears to have beenevaluated only for the ethanolic leaf extract of Breynia vitis-idea (ELBV) using the earthworm model. The final jellyformulation itself does not appear to have undergone direct anthelmintic efficacy testing. This distinction is importantbecause pharmaceutical formulation can significantly influence release characteristics, stability, and biological activity.Accordingly, conclusions regarding the therapeutic effectiveness of the jelly formulation should ideally be supported bydirect bioactivity data on the final product.A second issue concerns internal consistency in the reporting of experimental concentrations. The methods sectiondescribes extract concentrations of 20, 40, 80, and 100 mg/mL, whereas the results table presents 20, 40, 60, and 80 mg/mL. Such discrepancies may appear minor, but they have implications for reproducibility, dose-response interpretation,and overall confidence in the data. Clarification of the actual tested concentrations would therefore strengthen the report.Similarly, the rationale for selecting piperazine citrate (25 mg/mL) as the standard comparator could have been moreexplicitly justified.In addition, the pharmacological interpretation may extend beyond the strength of the available evidence. The earthwormassay is a recognized preliminary screening tool in anthelmintic research, but it remains an indirect surrogate and does not,by itself, support therapeutic implications for paediatric helminthic infections. For a formulation proposed for clinicalrelevance, further steps such as extract standardization, in vivo validation, and safety evaluation would be essential beforetranslational conclusions are drawn.The formulation assessment also appears somewhat limited for a paediatric oral dosage form. While the authors evaluatedorganoleptic properties, pH, and viscosity, several pharmaceutically important parameters-such as content uniformity,microbial quality, stability, release profile, and dose reproducibility-were not reported. These characteristics areespecially relevant in paediatric preparations, where acceptability and dosing precision are critical. Finally, althoughstatistical methods are mentioned, more detailed reporting of exact p-values, confidence intervals, and clearer groupcomparisons would have enhanced transparency and interpretability.In conclusion, this study may be better interpreted as a preliminary exploratory investigation rather than conclusiveevidence supporting a paediatric herbal jelly for helminthic treatment. We hope these comments are received in theconstructive spirit intended and contribute to strengthening future work in this promising area.
Citation Details
International Journal of Current Research in Physiology and Pharmacology, Vol. 9, No. 2