Development and Characterization of Floating Alginate Beads for Gastroretentive Drug Delivery System

摘要

The main object of this study was to involve in development and characterization of novel floating alginate beads of Ranitidine HC1 having an air compartment in itself to increase its residence time in the stomach without contact with mucosa. Such floating alginate beads were prepared by Ion-gelation method, using various ratio of CaCl_2 as a crosslinking agent in ion gelation media. The presence of air compartment was observed in formulation FF_1, FF_2 and CFF_3, CFF_6 by visual examination but only FFj and CFF_3 were found to be buoyant. Average particle size of the formulation FF_1 and CFF_3 were found to be 1.36+- 0.28 mm and 1.45+-0.21 mm respectively. Surface morphology of formulations FF_1 and CFF_3 before and after complete dissolution test were studied by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In-vitro drug release studies of selected formulations were performed in 900 ml simulated gastric fluid (1.2 pH) without pepsin. Different drug release kinetics models were also applied for selected batches.