DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF BUCCAL TABLETS OF PENTAZOCINE

Among the various routes of drug delivery, the oral route is perhaps the most preferred by patients and clinicians alike. However, peroral administration of drugs has disadvantages, such as hepatic first-pass metabolism and enzymatic degradation within the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). So, there has been a growing interest in the use of delivery of therapeutic agent through various transmucosal routes to provide a therapeutic amount of drug to the proper site in body to promptly achieve and then maintain the desired concentration. In the present work buccal tablets of Pentazocine was prepared by direct compression method by using combinations of polymers HPMC K4M, Sodium CMC and carbopol 934p. The buccal tablets were evaluated for physical parameters like appearance, hardness, thickness, weight variation, friability, swelling index and surface pH; biological parameter-mucoadhesive strength; and other parameters such as drug content uniformity, in vitro release, short-term stability and drug excipient interactions (FTIR). Among the twelve formulations, the formulation BP1 containing Sodium CMC (33.33% w/w of matrix layer) and carbopol 934p (0% w/w of matrix layer) was found to be promising, which showed t 25%, t 50% and t 70% values of 0.30, 3.12 and 5.24h respectively and in vitro drug release of 89.77% in 8 h along with satisfactory bioadhesion strength (7.70 g). Stability studies on the promising formulations indicated that there are no significant changes in drug content and in vitro dissolution characteristics (p<0.05). Infrared-spectroscopic studies indicated that there are no drug-excipient interactions. The prepared buccal tablets of Pentazocine stayed in the buccal for a longer period of time, which indicate a potential use of mucoadhesive tablets of Pentazocine treating blood pressure.