Preparation and Evaluation of Solid Dispersions of Modified Gum Karaya and Aceclofenac: Controlled Release Application

The objective of the present investigation was to develop matrix solid dispersion (SD) of aceclofenac sodium with modified gum karaya (MGK) in the drug carrier ratio of 1:1, 1:2, 1:4, 1:8 and 1: 10 (SD₁ to SD₁₀) and to study its functionality as a matrix forming agent for oral controlled release formulations. MGK was characterized and compared with GK through swelling index, water retention capacity and ATRFTIR. MGK showed comparable swelling index and water retention capacity to GK. The prepared solid dispersions were characterized for their ATRFTIR, drug content, and in vitro release studies followed by various release kinetics and mechanism of release. The drug release profile showed concentration dependent release retardant potential of natural polymer from 99.91 to 72.29 % (SD₁ to SD₁₀). Kinetic profile showed good linearity with zero order i.e. exhibiting concentration independent release of drug and Hixson Crowell cube root law (r² = 0.848 to 0.925) demonstrating that the drug release from the SD was erosion based. Korsmeyer pepas model provide n values of 0.566 to 0.788 suggestive of release mechanism was non-Fickian or anomalous release (0.45 < n < 0.89), which point towards drug release follows both diffusion and erosion mechanism. The drug content was found to be between 99.39 % and 100.83% representative of drug uniformity in various formulation batches.

Author(s): Gurpreet Arora, Karan Malik, Jyoti Sharma, Manju Nagpal and Inderbir Singh

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