RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Norfloxacin is fluoroquinolone anti-infective used in the treatment of urinary tract infections, prostatitis, gonorrhea and genital tract infections. It has plasma half life of 3 to 4 h requiring multiple dosing in the treatment. Releaseretarding polymers can be used to modulate the drug release of norfloxacin. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of release-retarding polymers on the drug release of norfloxacin from floating tablets. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Norfloxacin was procured as a gift sample from Concept Pharma Ltd. Aurangabad (India) and HPMC K100M was procured as a gift sample from Colorcon Asia Pvt. Ltd., Goa (India). The tablets were prepared by direct compression method and various pharmaceutical parameters were evaluated. RESULTS: It was observed that all tablet formulations F1-F9 retained the drug release up to 12 h with good floating property but only Batch-F4 complies with the USP dissolution limits with a minimum floating lag time. The drug release kinetics were evaluated by the model-dependent (curve fitting) method using PCP Disso v3 software shows Batch-F4 shows to best fit with Peppas model for which R2 value was 0.9921 and the release exponent value was 0.6892. CONCLUSIONS: The drug release kinetics study indicates that the floating tablets release the drug by diffusion followed by erosion mechanism. Obtained in-vitro drug release data was analyzed by design expert software for drug release at first hour and at 12th h values and found that release the selected independent variables like HPMC K100M and sodium alginate concentration has a significant effect on drug release.
