Effect of Calcium Chloride on Release Behavior of Babul (Acacia nilotica) gum Microbeads.

BACKGROUND: Oral delivery of drugs is the most common method, but due to the inability of drugs to restrain and localize in the gastro-intestinal tract, oral administration of drugs in conventional dosage forms have short-term limitations. Carrier technology may provide many approaches for the delivery of drugs by coupling the drug to a carrier particle, such as Microspheres, nanoparticles and liposomes, which modulate the release and absorption characteristics of the drug.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to prepare Diclofenac sodium microspheres using a natural polymer and show the effect of calcium chloride on the release behavior of microspheres. The microspheres of Diclofenac sodium were successfully developed by ionic gelation technique using natural polymer babul gum with sodium alginate.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Diclofenac Sodium was received as a gift sample from Aegis Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., Roorkee. Acacia nilotica gum was purchased from Ghaziabad and purification was done in the laboratory. All other excipients used analytical grade method. The microspheres of diclofenac sodium were prepared by Ionic gelation method using a natural polimer, i.e. Acacia nilotica. Calcium chloride (5% solution) was used as a cross-linking agent. In this research article all the data was presented as averages and standard deviations.

RESULTS: Five formulations were successfully prepared, i.e. F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5. All the formulations were evaluated for micromeritic properties, particle size analysis, percentage yield, drug content, drug entrapment efficacy, percent moisture loss, swelling index and in vitro dissolution studies. The size of the microspheres varied between 14.55 ± 0.29 to 20.18 ± 0.15 μm and as high as 81.51 ± 0.14% entrapment efficiency for babul gum was obtained.

CONCLUSIONS: Batch F1 and F5 was found to release the drug 91.35% and 75.48% respectively for 6 hrs. The formulations were found to be effective in providing controlled release of drug for a prolonged period of time.