Gastric Emptying Rates of Drug Preparations. II. Effects of Size and Density of Enteric-Coated Drug Preparations and Food on Gastric Emptying Rates in Humans

Enteric-coated granules with different densities and tablets of different sizes were prepared in order to study the effect of these physical properties of dosage forms on the gastric emptying rates in humans. The effect of food on the gastric emptying rate was also studied. Aspirin contained in an enteric-coated product as a marker drug was used to determine the gastric emptying rate by measuring salicylates excreted into the urine. The larger the size of the dosage form, the larger were the values of parameters for estimating the gastric emptying rate such as tlag, tmax and the mean absorption time. There was a significant correlation between the gastric emptying rates and sizes of dosage forms. On the other hand, no effects of density of enteric-coated granules on the gastric emptying rate were observed. The gastric emptying of dosage forms of various sizes or densities tested were prolonged by food. However, the gastric emptying rate of granules was less affected by food than that of tablets.