Dental implant for the treatment of periodontitis was developed for site specific delivery of Cefuroxime axetil a broad spectrum antibiotic. Cefuroxime axetil implants were prepared by solvent casting technique using ethyl cellulose and other co-polymers (HPMC-K4M or Eudragit RL100) in chloroform: dichloromethane (1:1) solvent with glycerol as plasticizers. Drug excipient compatibility was studied using FTIR and DSC. The films were evaluated for their thickness uniformity, folding endurance, weight uniformity, content uniformity, surface pH, invitro drug release and in-vitro antibacterial activity. In-vitro drug release was subjected to curve fitting using different equations and kinetic models to reveal release kinetics. The implants made from EC and HPMC-K4M batch W2 containing EC(400 mg), HPMC-K4M (100mg) and glycerol (0.4 ml) showed best result in respect to physical properties, %drug content (98.44 %) and %drug release in 6 days (95.96%). The implants made from EC and Eudragit RL -100, batch W8 containing EC (500 mg), Eudragit RL -100 (100mg) showed best result with respect to physical properties, %drug content (98.00%) and percent drug release in 7 days (96.78%). The in vitro drug release data showed that implants shows initially burst release followed by prolonged release. In vitro antibacterial activity was studied on S. aureus and E. coli organisms. The zone of inhibition for all the batches were found to be effectively higher in 48 hrs and then declined. W2 and W8 formulations showed better antibacterial effects with higher zones of inhibition. Stability studies revealed that the drug remained intact and stable in the periodontal implants during storage.
