Formulation and In Vitro Evaluation of Ofloxacin Tablets using Natural Gums as Binders.

Natural gums are economical, easily available, and useful as tablet binders. In the present investigation, an attempt was made to formulate Ofloxacin tablets using three natural binders, namely Acacia arabica, Hibiscus esculentus, and xanthan gum. Such six batches of Ofloxacin tablets were prepared by using different types and amounts of the natural binders by the wet granulation method. The tablets were analyzed for their hardness, friability, and weight variation, and in vitro release was performed in a phosphate buffer at pH 6.8. The prepared tablets were also evaluated for their various release kinetics and similarity factors f2. The physical properties of the tablets containing the natural binders showed sufficient hardness, desirable disintegration time, and low friability. Their better percentage of drug release was observed as compared to the marketed formulation showing more than 85% drug release within 45 minutes. The in vitro release data was well-fitted into zero-order and the values of release exponent 'n' were between 0.303 and 0.514. The high similarity factor f2 of 64.50 was achieved with the best batch in comparison to the marketed tablets. The results obtained indicated that the gum Acacia arabica performed as well as gelatin compared to the other binders for the Ofloxacin tablet formulation.

Design and evaluation of ocular drug delivery system for controlled delivery of gatifloxacin sesquehydrate: In vitro and in vivo evaluation.

The objective of this investigation was to formulate ocular inserts of gatifloxacin sesquehydrate to achieve controlled drug release. Drug reservoir was prepared using hydrophilic polymers, namely polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinyl pyrrolidone. The rate controlling membrane was prepared using hydrophobic ethyl cellulose by solvent casting method. Ocular inserts were evaluated for uniformity of weight, thickness, drug content, surface pH, percentage moisture absorption, percentage moisture loss, drug excipients compatibility, in vitro release, sterility test, eye irritation, in vivo release, microbiological and stability studies. Ocular inserts complied with all the physico-chemical parameters. Drug excipients compatibility studies demonstrated no interaction between drug and polymer. The in vitro release profile of drug from ocular inserts showed controlled and prolonged release. The release data followed zero order and non-Fickian transport. Ocular inserts passed the test for sterility. Correlation between in vitro and in vivo drug release was found to be strong revealing the efficacy of the formulation. The drug was found to be effective against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The result of accelerated stability study revealed no significant change in drug content of promising formulation.