DESIGN AND STATISTICAL OPTIMIZATION OF METFORMIN HYDROCHLORIDE LOADED FLOATING MICROSPHERES: INFLUENCE OF NATURAL POLYMERS

Floating microspheres have been showing high potential for gastro retention and provide an efficient means of enhancing bioavailability and controlling the release of drugs. Metformin hydrochloride is an effective antidiabetic that required controlled release due to its Short half-life of about 4.5-7 hours and bioavailability 50-60 %. The present research works aim is to develop, evaluate and statistically optimize the Metformin hydrochloride loaded floating microspheres for treatment of type 2 Diabetes mellitus. Six formulations were prepared by ionotropic gelation method by using various polymers such as HPMC K 100 M, Carbopol 934 P, Sodium bicarbonate etc and natural polymers such as tamarind gum powder and neem gum powder. The prepared microspheres were analyzed for particle size, surface morphology, % yield, % drug entrapment efficiency, in-vitro buoyancy, in-vitro drug release studies, in-vitro drug release kinetics, stability studies etc. From the preliminary trial, F4 Formulation was found to be the best formulation with Particle size of 820± 6.15 µm, in-vitro buoyancy of 95.6% and in vitro drug release of 76.33%. From statistically optimized data it was observed that R2 formulation was the best optimized formulation. Results clearly indicate that floating microspheres of Metformin hydrochloride offers a suitable, practical approach to achieve a prolonged gastric residence time and continuous release of the medication over an extended period of time thus oral bioavailability of the drug and subsequent efficacy is improved.