DEVELOPMENT, DESIGN AND EFFECTS OF FORMULATION AND PROCESSING PARAMETERS ON DRUG RELEASE OF FLOATING MATRIX TABLETS USING LOW DENSITY POWDER
*Basanta Kumar Behera1, Ranjit Mohapatra1, Sunit Kumar Sahu1, Monalisha Panigrahi2, Manasi Khadanga2
Abstract
Recent approaches to increase the gastric residence time of drug
delivery systems include bioadhesive devices, systems that rapidly
increase in size upon swallowing and low density devices that float on
the gastric contents. To provide good floating behavior in the
stomach, the density of the device should be less than that of the
gastric contents (approximately 1.004 g/cm3).
The objectives of the present study were to develop a single unit,
floating drug delivery system consisting of low density polypropylene
foam powder, matrix-forming polymer(s), drug, and filler (optional),
and to study the effect of important formulation and processing
parameters on the floating and drug release behavior of these systems.
The highly porous foam powder provided low density and, thus,
excellent in vitro floating behavior of the tablets. All foam powdercontaining
tablets remained floating for at least 8 h in 0.1 N HCl at
370C. Different types of matrix-forming polymers were studied. The tablets eroded upon
contact with the release medium, and the relative importance of drug diffusion, polymer
swelling and tablet erosion for the resulting release patterns varied significantly with the type
of matrix former. The release rate could effectively be modified by varying the matrixforming
polymer/foam powder ratio, the initial drug loading, the tablet geometry , the type of
matrix-forming polymer, the use of polymer blends and the addition of water-soluble or
water-insoluble fillers (such as lactose or microcrystalline cellulose). The floating behavior of the low density drug delivery systems could successfully be combined with accurate control
of the drug release patterns.
Keywords: Floating drug delivery, matrix tablets, in vitro evaluations.
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