Evaluation of in vitro-in vivo correlation and anticonvulsive effect of carbamazepine after cogrinding with microcrystalline cellulose.

PURPOSE: Carbamazepine is a poor water soluble drug and its bioavailability is limited by dissolution rate. Dissolution, serum concentration and anticonvulsive effect of the drug have been evaluated after cogrinding with microcrystalline cellulose. A cogrinding technique was used to increase the dissolution, serum concentrations and anticonvulsive effect of the drug. A novel deconvolution technique of in vitro in vivo correlation was evaluated. METHODS: The drug coground with microcrystalline cellulose, the corresponding physical mixture, unground and ground drug powder were subjected to dissolution measurement. Coground and unground drug serum concentrations were investigated in rabbits. Also the anticonvulsive effects of the latter preparations were assessed in mice. For elucidation of observed in vitro and in vivo differences FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction patterns and DSC thermograms of the preparations were studied. RESULTS: The dissolution of the coground was the highest (percent dissolved in the first 20 minutes, %D20', was 97.5). The unground drug powder exhibited the lowest dissolution (%D20'=40). The difference was reflected in their corresponding area under the mean serum concentration curves between 0-16 hr (118.96 vs 54.17 microg x hr/ml) as well as protection abilities against strychnine and electrically induced seizures. The onset of tonic seizures induced by strychnine was increased between 40-140% in the case of the coground system depending on dose and time of carbamazepine administration. CONCLUSION: Cogrinding was an effective technique in increasing carbamazepine dissolution due to reduced crystallinity as seen in X-ray pattern, enhanced wettability and decreased particle size, which in turn resulted in increased serum concentrations and its anticonvulsive effect. A novel simple deconvolusion technique not requiring intravenous data denoted as the double reciprocal area method was used to establish correlation between in vitro and in vivo parameters.