Abstract

INFLUENCE OF MICROENCAPSULATION TECHNIQUE AND POLYMER AMOUNT ON DESIGNING AND DEVELOPMENT OF LOSARTAN POTASSIUM MICROSPHERE

Kushwaha Vipin, *Patel Arun, Patel Shailendra, Dwivedi Neelesh and Sharma Harishankar

Abstract

Microencapsulation of drugs into solid non-biodegradable polymeric microspheres by solvent evaporation technique remains challenging especially with those having low molecular weight and high hydrophilicity nature. This paper presents an efficient encapsulation protocol for this group of drugs, demonstrated using losartan potassium (LP) as a model compound which is encapsulated into Eudragit RS 100 (ERS) and Eudragit RL 100 (ERL) microspheres. The effects of polymer type and polymer/drug ratios on the size, surface morphology, encapsulation efficiency and the release characteristics of the microspheres were examined. The formulation containing drug/polymer ratio 1:5 (F2) in which the ratio between the two polymers (ERS:ERL) is 4:1 was found to be the most appropriate with respect to encapsulation At the optimum stirring speed of 750 rpm, best spherical shaped particles with good surface characteristics were found by SEM study, particles were distributed over the size range of 100-400 μm. This proposed method has been successfully used to prepare batches of microspheres having high encapsulation efficiencies.

Keywords: Polymer, Losartan Potassium, Microsphere, Microencapsulation.