FORMULATION AND IN-VITRO EVALUATION OF NIFEDIPINE SUSTAINED RELEASE TABLETS

Abstract

In the present study, Nifedipine was chosen as a model drug which is an AntiHypertensive. Because of its short life (2hr) and its high water solubility it was chosen as a suitable candidate for sustained release matrix tablet formulation. It was formulated in to matrix tablet using polymer such as Sodium alginate & HPMC K100 as releases retardants. All the pre-compression parameters (angle of repose, Hausner’s ratio and Carr’s index) were found to be within the standard limits. Tablets were evaluated for hardness, friability, thickness, drug content, in-vitro release. The effect of polymer concentration binary polymer mixture on drug release profile was studied. It was observed that the polymer concentration has influence the drug release from matrix tablet. Matrix tablet content a blend of HPMC K100 and Sodium Alginate successfully sustained the release of Nifedipine for a period of 12hr. Pre compression parameter indicated that granules used for preparing tablets with free flowing. Post compression parameters (hardness, friability, thickness and drug content) were within the acceptable limit. The sustained release from Sodium Alginate and HPMC K100 was due to interaction between Sodium Alginate chain ionic polymer and HPMC chain, non-ionic polymer, which resulted in favorable increase in the water uptake capacity and gel viscosity, leading to better control the release of Nifedipine. The study indicates that the matrix tablets of Nifedipine prepared using HPMC K100 and Sodium Alginate can successfully be employed as twicea-day oral sustained release dosage form in order to improve patient compliance.