Der Pharmacia Lettre
Abstract
Author(s): Swati C. Jagdale, Santosh S. Padekar, Ajay S. Bhadoriya, Swapnil A. Ghorpade, Bhanudas S. Kuchekar
The purpose of this work was to develop intragastric floating drug delivery by a means of
calcium pectinate gel (CaPG) and zinc pectinate gel (ZnPG) beads. The CaPG and ZnPG beads
containing carbonate salt, as a gas-forming agent, were prepared by dispersing carbonate salt
in pectin solution and then extruding into either neutral or acidified solution of calcium chloride
and zinc acetate respectively. The effect of factors such as type of carbonates, percentage of
carbonates, gelation medium, drug loading, on floating and release properties was investigated.
To overcome limitations of various approaches for imparting buoyancy, porous beads were
prepared by incorporation of carbonate salts into pectin solution. Acidity of gelation medium
increased the pores in the structure of beads containing calcium carbonate and zinc acetate.
This is due to carbon dioxide generated from reaction of carbonate salts with acid. The highly
porous beads prepared with carbonate salts and acidified gelation medium showed a good
floating ability with fast drug release.
