Formulation and Evaluation of Taste-Masked Orally Disintegrating Tablets of a Carboxy Fluoroquinolone Derivative Using Ion-Exchange Resin Technology

Abstract

Ciprofloxacin is a broad spectrum antibacterial agent active against gram positive and gram negative organism. It is very bitter in taste. In the present work an attempt has been made to develop taste masked rapid disintegrating tablet of Ciprofloxacin using ion exchange resins (Tulsion 335, Indion 204, Indion 214) as a taste masking agent. Different drug: resin ratios were tried to prepare taste masked complex. Depending upon the taste masking and drug loading efficiency the complex with Tulsion 335 in the 1:1.5 (drug: resin) ratio was selected for the formulation of tablet. FT-IR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry were used to investigate the physical characteristics of the complex. Tablets were prepared by direct compression technique using three super disintegrants viz. croscarmellose sodium, cross povidone and sodium starch glycolate. The blend was examined for angle of repose, bulk density, tapped density and Hausner’s ratio. Tablets of all batches were tested for various evaluation parameters. Tablets formulated with 4.3% (F9) of croscarmellose sodium showed low disintegration time (19±1.23 sec), wetting time (25±1.75 sec) and friability (0.23±0.13%) than the other batches. The % cumulative release of drug from tablet (F9) was found to be more than 95% within 20 mins. It was concluded from the study that Ciprofloxacin shows optimum drug loading with Tulsion-335. Among different superdisintegrants croscarmellose sodium was found suitable.

Keywords: Ion exchange resin, Ciprofloxacin, Rapid disintegrating tablet, Super disintegrants