FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF SUPERPOROUS HYDROGEL TABLETS OF RABEPRAZOLE SODIUM AS A GASTRORETENTIVE SYSTEM

Parthiban K. G.1, Ragunathan Muthuswamy*2 and Dilna Deepan3

ABSTRACT

The present study intends to carry out the formulation and evaluation of gastro retentive drug delivery system based on superporous hydrogel tablet using rabeprazole sodium. Rabeprazole sodium belongs to the class of antisecretory compounds which suppress gastric acid secretion by the specific inhibition of the H+/K+-ATPase enzyme. The drug rabeprazole sodium has low bioavailability of 52%, superporous hydrogel have fast swelling property, minimized rupturing, increased gastric residence time and also increased solubility, so to increase bioavailability and also to increase gastric residence time it is designed as a gastro retentive superporous hydrogel system. Superporous hydrogel swells rapidly in the stomach. The prepared superporous hydrogel may withstand various types of stress like compression, mechanical strength, stability in acidic condition of stomach and also gives effective pore size larger than 10 micrometre. Gastro retentive superporous hydrogel are generally characterized by their size, morphology, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), porosity measurement, determination of void fraction, water retention capacity, and determination of drug content. Advantage of converting into superporous hydrogel tablet is to achieve improved therapeutic advantage, such as ease of dosing administration, patient compliance and flexibility in formulation.

Keywords: Gastroretentive drug delivery system, Superporous hydrogel, Swelling, Gastric residence time.