Oluwatoyin A Odeku , Oludele A Itiola

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Published: 20 June 2003

Citation: Odeku OA, Itiola OA. Effects of interacting variables on the tensile strength and the release properties of paracetamol tablets. Trop J Pharm Res 2003; 2(1):147-153 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v2i1.4

© 2003 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose:  The  individual  and  interaction effects  of  nature of  binder (N),  concentration of binder (C)  and  the  relative density  (D)  on  the  tensile  strength and  release properties  of paracetamol tablets have been studied using a 2 3 factorial experimental design.
Methodology:  Khaya gum,  which  represented  the  “low”  level,  and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP),  which  represented  the  “high”  level,  was  used as  binding agent  at  concentrations  of 0.5%  and 4%w/w  in a paracetamol  tablet formulation.  The  tensile  strength,  which  is  a measure of the bond  strength of tablets,  and  the  release properties  of the  tablets-  measured by the disintegration and the dissolution times, were used as assessment parameters.
Results:  Changing  the  concentration of  binder  and  the  relative density  of the  tablets  from “low”  to  “high”  led  to an  increase  in the tensile strength and the disintegration and dissolution times of the tablets.  The ranking of the individual  coefficient  values for the formulations was D >  N  >  C  for  T  and  C  >>  N  >  D  for  the disintegration and dissolution parameters  while  the ranking for the interaction effects was N - D >> N - C > C – D for T and t50, N - C >> N – D> C - D for DT and C - D > N - C >> N - D for t90.
Conclusion:  The  results suggest that  khaya gum  could be useful  as  an alternative binding agent to produce  tablets  with particular  tensile  strength and drug  release profiles  and  there was considerable interaction between the variables employed on the tablet properties.