ABSTRACT
Ibuprofen is one of the most important non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs used in the treatment of inflammatory diseases. In its pure state, ibuprofen presents poor physical and mechanical characteristics and its use in solid dosage forms needs the addition of excipients that improve these properties. The selection of the best excipients and the most suitable pharmaceutical dosage form to carry ibuprofen is very important for the industrial success of this drug. Given these factors, lipid microparticles of ibuprofen with decyl oleate and hydrogenated castor oil were prepared. This formulation was intended to improve the content of ibuprofen in preparation and to sustain the release of this drug. Lipid microparticles were submitted to determination of ibuprofen content using UV-VIS spectrophotometry and, gelatin capsules filled with lipid microparticles and tablets prepared with these microparticles were submitted to dissolution tests in order to study the influence of the prepared system in the release profiles of ibuprofen. The improvement of the content of ibuprofen and prolonged release of this drug was achieved with the lipid microparticles prepared with this mixture of excipients.