FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF PULSATILE DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM OF ATENOLOL BY USING NATURAL GUM

The recent work is based on the extraction and purification of natural gum from the bark of plant Terminalia elliptica (local name – Saaj) and the use of this gum to prepare pulsatile Drug Delivery System of Atenolol for the chronotherapy of cardiovascular diseases. Three formulations CF1, CF2, CF3 of core tablets were prepared by direct compression technique by varying concentrations of crospovidone and evaluated. Formulation CF3 showed the highest 98.71% of drug release after 30 min was selected for press coating. Press coated tablets of  Formulation F1 to F5 were prepared by direct compression technique using varying combinations of Saaj gum and Ethylcellulose in the ratio of 1:0, 3:1, 1:1, 1:3 and 0:1 respectively by taking CF3 as core in all. The extracted gum, powder blends, core tablets, and press coated tablets all were evaluated for their physicochemical properties. From the dissolution study of formulation F1 To F5 it was found that F2 having 3:1 combination of Saaj gum and EC shows a significant lag time of around 7 h by releasing only 4.09% of drug which followed by a bulk release of  97.61% of drug in between 7 to 8 h. The drug release kinetic studies of F2 shows the highest R² value i.e. 0.463 for the Korsmeyer Peppas model. The evaluation parameters like weight variation, hardness, friability, the thickness of F2 was found to be 555 ± 5, 6.6 ± 1.1 kg/cm², 0.43 ± 0.1%, 5.7 ± 0.7 mm respectively, which meets with the official limits given in IP, BP, and USP.