Critical points in ethylcellulose matrices: Influence of the polymer, drug and filler properties

Percolation theory has been applied to study the drug re- lease behaviour in multicomponent inert matrices con- taining ethylcellulose as a matrix forming polymer. Glo- bal influence of major formulation factors such as polymerviscosity, polymer particle size, drug and filler solubilityand porosity...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Cifuentes, Celia, Aguilar de Leyva, Mercedes Ángela, Rajabi Siahboomi, Ali R., Caraballo Rodríguez, Isidoro
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2013
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repository:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/134789
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/134789
https://doi.org/10.2478/acph-2013-0005
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Inert matrices
Critical points
Percolation theory
Sustained release
Description
Summary:Percolation theory has been applied to study the drug re- lease behaviour in multicomponent inert matrices con- taining ethylcellulose as a matrix forming polymer. Glo- bal influence of major formulation factors such as polymerviscosity, polymer particle size, drug and filler solubilityand porosity of the tablets in drug release kinetics has beenstudied for the first time. Batches containing three visco- sity grades of Ethocel™, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC)and lactose as fillers, a lubricant and flow aid mixture andthree drugs with different solubility have been manufac- tured. For some batches, compression pressure was vari- ed in order to obtain matrices with five levels of initialporosity. The behaviour of inert matrices was explainedbased on the percolation ranges of the main componentsof the formulation. The effect of the porosity percolationthreshold was observed and the existence of a tricoherentdrug-polymer-filler system is hypothesized.