DESIGN AND ASSESSMENT OF COLON SPECIFIC DRUG DELIVERY OF MEFENAMIC ACID USING MODIFIED PULSINCAP TECHNIQUE AND HUPU GUM

Article history Received 25 July 2012 The aspiration of present work is to design a colon specific drug delivery of mefenamic acid (MA) by using modified pulsincap technique and hupu gum as hydrogel. Mefenamic acid being poorly water soluble drug, solubility has been increased by solid dispersion technique using natural gums such as guar gum (GG), hupu gum (HG) and xanthan gum (XG). Solid dispersions were prepared by kneading method at different weight ratios of 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3 of MA and selected polymers. Saturation solubility, pH dependent solubility, phase solubility and dissolution studies were conducted. The optimized solid dispersions have been used for the formulation of pulsincaps. Bodies were made insoluble by formaldehyde treatment. Solid dispersions of mefenamic acid were filled in the bodies. Hupu gum (HG) was used as plug. Sealing of body and cap were done using ethyl cellulose. Ethyl cellulose coating was employed to ensure the colon targeting of pulsincaps. % drug release of MA pulsincaps prepared with MA and solid dispersions of MA-GG, MA-HG and MA-XG was found to be 41.25, 91.44, 93.87and 88.4 respectively. The studies have clearly indicated that mefenamic acid in pulsincap formulations were very effective to deliver the drug specifically to colon.