Development and Evaluation of Curcumin Floating Tablets

In the present study, curcumin an anti-inflammatory agent, was first complexed with the soluplus by hot melt extrusion machine to enhance the solubility of curcumin and was formulated into floating tablets by direct compression method. Tablets were formulated using various grades of Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) polymers and sodium bicarbonate as gas generating agent. Preformulation and micromeritic studies were performed. The floating tablets were evaluated for their physico-chemical properties, in-vitro release, in-vivo floating property, pharmacokinetic and stability studies. Formulations were found uniform with respect to thickness (5.11 to 5.27 mm) and hardness (4.4 to 4.8 kg/cm2). The friability (0.27 to 0.53 %), weight variation (1.28-1.89%) and Drug content (97.84 to 99.46 %). The order of swelling index of HPMC was found to be K100M > K15M > K4M. Sodium bicarbonate at the concentration of 16% w/w was found to be sufficient in attaining the buoyancy. The buoyancy lag time was found to be less than 1 minute for all the prepared tablets. The total floating time for different formulations was in the range of 12-24 hours. The optimized formulation F4, and F6 showed 98.85 and 98.10 % drug release at the end of 20 and 24 hrs respectively. The in-vivo floating study was carried out by X-ray imaging showed floating of the tablet in the stomach. The pharmacokinetic study showed, Cmax-260 ng/ml, Tmax-12 hrs, AUC -738.33 ng/hr/ml Kel as 0.061 and t1/2 was found to be 11.36 hrs. FT-IR, XRD and DSC studies revealed no chemical interaction between drug and polymers. During the stability period selected tablets were found to be stable with respect to floating behaviour and drug release characteristics.