Acta Pharm. 57 (2007) 343-350

10.2478/v10007-007-0027-3

full paper

Original research paper

Asymmetric membrane capsule for osmotic delivery of flurbiprofen

PRATIM K. CHOUDHURY¹, MAHENDRA S. RANAWAT², MOUSUMI K. PILLAI³ AND CHETAN S. CHAUHAN^2*

chetansinghchauhan2k@rediffmail.com

¹ Department of Pharmacy, Fiji School of Medicine, Suva, Fiji Islands

² Department of Pharmaceutics, B. N. College of Pharmacy, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India

³ Department of Pharmacy, Mohan Lal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India

Accepted April 11, 2007

An asymmetric membrane capsule of cellulose acetate for osmotic delivery of flurbiprofen has been developed and influence of osmogents and solubilizing agent on in vitro drug release were evaluated. The capsule membrane was prepared by the phase inversion technique. To ensure the osmotic delivery of drug, two approaches were adopted: (i) the drug was encapsulated with osmogents like sodium chloride and mannitol to increase the osmotic pressure of the core, and (ii) the drug was encapsulated with sodium lauryl sulfate in the core of the formulation to increase the solubility and thus its osmotic pressure. Scanning electron microscopy of the membrane confirmed its porous, dense asymmetric nature. Dye test revealed in situ pore formation. The in vitro release study showed that as the proportion of osmogent and solubilizing agent was increased the release rate also increased. A good correlation was observed between the zero-order rate constant and the amount of the osmogent and solubilizing agent used.

Keywords: osmotic delivery, asymmetric membrane, cellulose acetate, flurbiprofen, osmogent