Enhancement of Dissolution Rate of Indomethacin: Using Liquisolid Compacts

The potential of liquisolid systems to improve the dissolution properties of a water-insoluble agent (indomethacin) was the purpose of this survey. In this study, different formulations of liquisolid tablets using different co-solvents (non-volatile solvents) were prepared and the effect of several amounts of them on the dissolution behaviour of indomethacin was investigated. It is worth mentioning that the ratio of microcrystalline cellulose (carrier) to silica (coating powder material) was 20 in all formulations. To evaluate any interaction between indomethacin and the other components in liquisolid formulations, the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) was used. The results showed that the liquisolid formulations exhibited significantly higher drug dissolution rates in comparison with directly compressed tablet. The enhanced rate of indomethacin dissolution derived from liquisolid tablets was probably due to an increase in wetting properties and surface area of drug particles available for dissolution. Moreover, it was indicated that the fraction of molecularly dispersed drug (F(M)) in the liquid medication of liquisolid systems was directly proportional to their indomethacin dissolution rate (D(R)). An attempt was made to correlate the percentage drug dissolved in 10 min with the solubility of indomethacin in PEG 200 and glycerin. In conclusion, the liquisolid compacts technique can be a promising alternative for the formulation of water insoluble drugs, such as indomethacin into rapid release tablets.