CALCIUM PECTINATE GEL COATED PELLETS AS AN ALTERNATIVE CARRIER TO CALCIUM PECTINATE BEADS

A conventional method of using drug entrapped in calcium pectinate bea ds as sustained release drug delivery systems have long been suffering from too rapid an in-vitro release. An approach to solve this setback by the method of calcium pectinate gel (CPG) coated pellets was then initiated. The spherical theophylline pellets, which contain calcium a cetate, were prepared using an extrusion-spheronization method and the n coated with pectin solution, using an interfacial complexation proce ss. An insoluble and uniform coating of CPG was formed around the pell ets. The comparison was made between theophylline uncoated pellets, ca lcium pectinate beads and this developed method by the variation of co ating time and the type of pectin. The results in simulated gastric fl uid (SGF) and water showed that theophylline release from the coated p ellets was slower than that from the beads. The time for 50% release o f theophylline (t(50)) from the CPG coated pellets in water and SGF ar e greater than the uncoated cores and the conventional beads. These re sults suggested that the coated pellets system were able to retard the release of theophylline to a greater extent than the conventional met hod. Therefore, this approach has been successfully achieved. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.