Application of chitin and chitosan as disintergrant in paracetamol tablet

Abstract

Disintegration properties of chitin and chitosan from two sources were in comparison to four commonly used disintegrants; corn starch, sodium starch glycolate, microcrystalline cellulose and croscarmellose sodium. Physical properties of disintegrant powders; swelling capacity, particle size and size distribution, and of pure disintegrant tablets; water uptake were determined. Paracetamol tablets containing different level of disintegrants aend prepared by wet granulation method with two levels of compressional forces were evaluated for their disintegration time and drug dissolution both before and after exposure to 75% RH and 45℃. The results clearly showed chitin and chitosan had larger size and wide range of size distribution than other disintegrants. Their swelling capacity in deionized water, microcrystalline cellulose but lower than sodium starch glycolate and croscarmellose sodium. Chitin and chitosan exhibited high water uptake but less than sodium starch glycolate. The disintegration time of these tablets were longer than those of sodium starch glycolate and croscarmellose sodium but shorter than those of corn starch and microcrystalline cellulose at the same concentration and compressional force. The increment in concentration of them caused faster disintegration time. Tablets containing chitosan had shorter disintegration time than those of chitin. Drug dissolution of 5% or more of chitin and chitosan tablets complied with the requirements of the US standard. Different sources of chitin and chitosan had a little effect on physical properties. Tablets made with 7% chitosan disintegrated within 1 minute and their percent drug dissolved in 30 minutes were similar to sodium starch glycolate and croscarmellose sodium tablets. Aging slightly affected physical properties of chitin and chitosan tablets. The possible mechanisms of disintegration in the case of chitin and chitosan were the ability to accelerate water penetration into tablets and swelling ability of their particles.