Pharmaceutical Technology: Controlled Drug Release, Volume 2
Pharmaceutical Technology: Controlled Drug Release, Volume 2
Pharmaceutical Technology: Controlled Drug Release, Volume 2
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62 MATRIX FORMULATIONS [CH. 5<br />
Fig. 1—Flow function and flowability (ic) of the optimized formulations.<br />
The porosimetry measurements<br />
In order to characterize the microstructure of the matrices, the total porosimetry factor, the pore<br />
volume, the pore surface and the mean pore diameter were measured using a mercury porosimeter<br />
(Micrometrics) [3]. The mean of three replicates and their coefficient of variation are indicated in<br />
Table 3.<br />
From the results, it is possible to draw the following conclusions.<br />
(1) In accordance with the Dubinin classification [14], all the matrix tablets exhibited macropores<br />
(mean pore diameter >200Å).<br />
(2) The tablets obtained by direct compression in a single punch machine (Frogerais) and those<br />
obtained by wet granulation had very similar values; only the coefficient of variation<br />
differentiate these two processes.<br />
(3) As expected, as the applied UPF increased, the porosimetry parameters decreased (UPF<br />
values: direct compression and wet granulation, 7 kN; double compression, 12 kN; separate<br />
compaction, 19 kN; compaction of the mixture, 31 kN).<br />
(4) The variability of the porosity parameters may be used to differentiate the processes. It also<br />
explains the variability of the dissolution parameters because of the same order of variation<br />
(CV):<br />
wet granulation (3.0)