Abstract
Effect of protective coating of aspirin tablets with acrylatemethacrylate copolymers on tablet disintegration times and dissolution rates
Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria
Correspondence Address:
M U Uhumwangho Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin, Benin City Nigeria E-mail: mike2003u@yahoo.com
Tablets of aspirin (a moisture degradable drug) have been film coated with two analogous Eudragit RL and RS copolymers designated here as A and B which differ only in their cation content in the ratio 2:1 (A:B). A, is therefore more hydrophilic than B. The tablets were film coated with ethanol solutions of these two polymers. Film coating with either A or B significantly reduced the moisture uptake potentials of the tablets but caused an increase in the disintegration times of the tablets and retarded dissolution rates. The mean disintegration times were 0.5±0.1 min (uncoated tablets), 16±2.5 min (tablets coated with A) and 115±3.6 min (tablets coated with B). The corresponding dissolution rates % h -1 were 28.3 for uncoated, 16.6, coated with A and 14.8, coated with B, respectively. Thus, coating with polymer B considerably impaired the disintegration and dissolution properties of the tablets.
