Abstract

Buccoadhesive tablets of pentazocine hydrochloride were prepared by directly compressing chitosan with sodium alginate or sodium carboxymethylcelullose in weight ratios 5:0, 4:1, 2:3, 3:2, 1:4. The tablets were evaluated for weight variation, hardness, thickness uniformity, drug contentuniformity and swelling index. Swelling of sodium carboxymethylcelullose batches was greater than sodium alginate. In vitro bioadhesive strength studies showed that formulations containing chitosan and sodium carboxymethylcelullose were more bioadhesive than chitosan and sodium alginate. In vitro dissolution studies revealed that all the formulations exhibited non-Fickian release kinetics. Further, in situ drug diffusion studies were carried using porcine cheek pouch. The formulation containing a mixture of chitosan and sodium alginate (4:1) showed 100% release in 8 h in in vitro dissolution studies and 52.1% in drug diffusion studies. Incorporation of sodium glycodeoxycholate (3 %) resulted in 17.9% enhancement in drug diffusion.