Disintegrant Properties of a Newly Derived Superdisintegrant from Lentinus tuber regium in Paracetamol Tablet Formulation

Author(s): Kenneth Chinedu Ugoeze, Nkemakolam Nwachukwu

Abstract

Background: Rapid disintegration of tablets aids early drug release. This amidst economies of production prompts the search for innovative multifunctional-excipients.

Aim: The study aims to derive new directly-compressible-superdisintegrating-diluents from Lentinus tuber regium (LTR) and evaluating them in paracetamol tablets in comparison with avicel® PH 101(AVC).

Material and Method: The pulverized LTR was coded NLTR-A. Three separate 500.00 g of NLTR-A each was modified with 3.50% w/v of sodium hypochlorite; extracting with 70.00% v/v ethanol in a Soxhlet extractor; blending with 600.00 ml of 0.50 N NaOH and treating with 200.00 ml of 0.50 N HCL. The derived powders were coded MLTR-B, MLTR-C and MLTR-D. Formulations for tablets, each weighing 300.00 mg were made, containing 41.67% w/w paracetamol, 52.33% w/w of either NLTR-A or MLTR-B or MLTR-C or MLTR-D or AVC, 0.50% w/w magnesium stearate and talc. The micromeritics of powder blends were established. Tablets were compressed at 9.81 kN and evaluated.

Results: Enhanced flowability occurred in the derived powders than in NLTR-A and AVC. Tablets exhibited minimal weight variations with hardness generally above 4.00 kgf. They disintegrated in less than 1.00 min with friability < 1.00% recorded for AVC, MLTR-B and MLTR-C and mechanical strength as AVC > MLTR-C > MLTR-B > NLTR-A > MLTR-D (p < 0.05). Each batch released 80.00% of paracetamol before 30.00 min with dissolution efficiency (%) as MLTR-B (89.73±0.02)>MLTR-D (79.50±0.02)>AVC (77.84±0.02).

Conclusion: The powders derived from LTR are applicable as directly-compressible-superdisintegrating-diluent for paracetamol tablets.