Acta Pharm. 53 (2003) 313-320

Effects of starches on the mechanical properties of paracetamol tablet formulations. II. Sorghum and plantain starches as disintegrants

GBENGA ALEBIOWU^1* and OLUDELE ADELANWA ITIOLA²

galebiowu@yahoo.co.uk

¹Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
²Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

This study evaluates the disintegrant properties - tablet disintegration time (DT) and crushing strength, friability/disintegration time (CSFR/DT) ratio of a paracetamol tablet formulation prepared with sorghum and plantain starches in comparison with corn starch BP. The effects of disintegrant concentration, relative density of tablets and the mode of disintegrants addition were studied. The study revealed that the rank order of effectiveness of the starches as disintegrants was corn > plantain > sorghum. The mode of addition of disintegrants, disintegrant concentration and relative density had a significant impact on the disintegrant properties. The tested starches, namely sorghum and plantain, showed promising results.

Keywords: sorghum starch, plantain starch, pregelatinization, crushing strength, friablility, disintegration time