Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences
 

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CROSSLINKED CHITOSAN HYDROGEL MATRIX TABLETS FOR CONTROLLED RELEASE OF GABAPENTIN

NARASIMHA S. MANAGOLI1,4, RAGHAVENDRA V. KULKARNI2, N. RAMARAO3*, I. S. MUCHANDI1

1BVVS’s HSK College of Pharmacy, Bagalkot-587101, Karnataka, India.
2 BLDEA’s College of Pharmacy, BLDE University Campus, Bijapur- 586101, India.
3 Chalapati Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guntur 522034, Andhra Pradesh, India.
4 Acharya Nagarjun University, Nagarjunanagar, Guntur 522510, Andhra Pradesh, India.

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The aim of the present study was to prepare hydrogel matrix tablets for controlled release of an antiepileptic drug, gabapentin. The hydrogels were prepared by crosslinking chitosan using four different crosslinking agents namely, anhydrous dextrose (DXT), sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP), urea-formaldehyde (UF) and acetaldehyde (AL). They were characterized by differential screening calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The matrix tablets were prepared by conventional wet granulation method and evaluated for weight and drug contents variations, hardness and friability and were within the specified range. The matrix tablets were capable of releasing the drug for 12 h depending upon the formulation variables. The tablets prepared by plain chitosan discharged the drug quickly, while those prepared by using AL crosslinked-hydrogel released the drug more slowly in a controlled manner. In general, the order of drug release from the crosslinked-hydrogel matrix tablets on the basis of crosslinking agents, was found to be DXT > TPP > UF > AL. Drug release mechanisms from all the tablets followed non-Fickian transport.