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ISSN (Online) : 2277-4572

FORMULATION DEVELOPMENT AND IN VITRO EVALUATION OF GASTRO RETENTIVE FLOATING MICROSPHERES OF VERAPAMIL HYDROCLORIDE

Abstract

Author(s): B.Venkateswara Reddy*, G. Navaneetha

Floating drug delivery system is one of the novel drug delivery system. Floating drug delivery system have a bulk density less than gastric fluids and thus it remains buoyant in the stomach without affecting gastric emptying rate for a prolonged period of time. Verapamil HCL is calcium channel blocker drug with short elimination half-life 2.8-7.4 hours Floating microspheres of Verapamil HCL were prepared by Emulsion solvent evaporation method by using HPMC K4M, HPMC K15M and Ethyl cellulose as polymers. The floating microspheres were evaluated for micromeritic properties, particle size, percentage yield, invitro buoyancy, incorporation efficiency and in-vitro drug release. Results show that as the concentration of polymer increases it affects the particle size, percentage yield, in-vitro buoyancy and in-vitro drug release of microspheres. The micromeritic property was found to be good and scanning electron microscopy confirmed their hollow structure with smooth surface. Formulation F5 ( drug : EC 1:2) prepared with Ethyl cellulose exhibited excellent micromeritic properties, percentage yield, in vitro buoyancy, incorporation efficiency and percentage drug release 99.86% for a period of 12 hrs. The data obtained in this study thus suggest that floating microspheres of Verapamil HCL are promising for sustained drug delivery, which can reduce dosing frequency