Abstract

OBSERVATION OF THE RELEASE OF LIDOCAINE HYDROCHLORIDE FROM BIODEGRADABLE POLYMERIC IMPLANTS

Nure Alam Howlader, Swarnali Islam*, Muhammad Al-Mamun, and Setu Barua

ABSTRACT

Implantation drug delivery technique is an application of biochemical engineering with technologies aimed at the improvement efficacy, better compliance and life extension of products. The objective of this present study was to evaluate the effect of drug loading and excipients on the release pattern of Lidocaine Hydrochloride from Gelatin-Sodium Alginate polymeric implant. In this system, Gelatin is used as a naturally occurring biodegradable polymer and Na-Alginate as a release retarding agent. Implants were prepared in different ratio of Gelatin and Na-Alginate i.e. 60:40, 70:30, 80:20 and 90:10% w/w by heating and congealing method. They were then exposed to Formaldehyde in desiccators for different time intervals i.e. 3,6,12 and 24 hours for hardening.The active ingredient, Lidocaine Hydrochloride was chosen as the model drug for fabrication of implant because it plays an important role as a local anesthetic and it is also useful for treating ventricular arrhythmias. After formulation the implant was evaluated for thickness, weight variation, presence of free formaldehyde and in-vitro drug release study. The implant formulated with 90:10 formulation hardened for 24 hours were found to show the maximum sustained action of 102 hours. It was found that batch to batch variation. The presence of free formaldehyde test revealed that none of the implants contain formaldehyde. The results of the in-vitro dissolution study were fitted to First order, Zero order, Higuchi and Korsmeyer-Peppas kinetics to evaluate the kinetic data. The kinetic data was determined by finding the best fit of the release data to those kinetic models. The release rate constants calculated from the slopes of the best-fit lines and the coefficients of determination, R2 values, were also used to calculate the accuracy of the fit. Implants were found to follow the Higuchi model of kinetics the best. Also good correlations were obtained with Korsmeyer-Peppas model. According to these models, the drug release from the implants was diffusion-controlled, where the drug was found to leave the matrix through pores and channels formed by the entry of dissolution medium.

Keywords: Biodegradable Implant, Lidocaine Hydrochloride, Gelatin, Sodium Alginate.