Prolonged Gastric Delivery of Vitamin B2 from a Floating Drug Delivery System: An in Vitro Study.

The present study describes the drug release behaviour of vitamin B2 loaded superporous floating hydrogels which was prepared through rapid copolymerization of acrylamide and acrylic acid in the presence of model drug using NaHC03 as porogen and tetraethylmethylene diamine as catalyst. The gels prepared with 0.12 and 0.58 mM of cross-linker remained buoyant for nearly 96 h, but showed different release behaviours. The cross-linked sample with 0.12 mM released almost 100% drug within two hours in a simulating gastric fluid of pH 1.2, while the sample with 0.58 mM of cross-linker demonstrated a slower release which was extended over a period of 30 h. The mesh sizes of two samples were found to be 23.25A and 20.11A as determined from swelling measurements. The asymptotic nature of the release profile indicated a first-order kinetics, which was also confirmed by the regression analysis. The gels offer their strong candidature for prolonged gastric delivery of drugs for the treatment of gastric disorders.