Development of hot-melt extrusion as a novel technique for the ...
Development of hot-melt extrusion as a novel technique for the ...
Development of hot-melt extrusion as a novel technique for the ...
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2.2 Hot-Melt <strong>extrusion</strong>Hot-<strong>melt</strong> <strong>extrusion</strong> w<strong>as</strong> carried out using a 18 mm Leistritz twin-screw extruder. Screwswere co-rotated at a speed <strong>of</strong> 200 rpm; <strong>the</strong> temperature applied w<strong>as</strong> 140°C. At this temperature,dissolution <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> IBU in <strong>the</strong> polymer occurred. The drug-excipients composition consisted <strong>of</strong>IBU/EPO/Talc and IBU/EPO/Talc at a ratio <strong>of</strong> 25/25/50 and 50/40/10(% wt/wt). The extrudateswere collected <strong>as</strong> strands with diameter <strong>of</strong> approximately 1.5 mm and milled under cryogenicmilling (Retsch ZM 200 Ultracentrifugal, Germany) conditions (6000 rpm, 10 min) to obtain <strong>the</strong>final t<strong>as</strong>te-m<strong>as</strong>ked granules.2.3 Particle size distribution me<strong>as</strong>urementsThe particle size distribution <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> produced IBU granules w<strong>as</strong> me<strong>as</strong>ured by dry sieving.The method involved stacking <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sieves on top <strong>of</strong> each o<strong>the</strong>r and <strong>the</strong>n placing <strong>the</strong> test powder(100 g) on <strong>the</strong> top sieve. The nest <strong>of</strong> sieves w<strong>as</strong> subjected to a standardised period <strong>of</strong> agitation(20 min) and <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> weight <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> material retained on each sieve w<strong>as</strong> accurately determined togive <strong>the</strong> weight percentage <strong>of</strong> powder in each sieve size range.2.4 Tablet preparation<strong>Development</strong> batches were prepared using batch sizes <strong>of</strong> 200 g. All materials were p<strong>as</strong>sedthrough a mesh sieve with an aperture <strong>of</strong> 800µm be<strong>for</strong>e use. The batches were blended withsodium stearyl fumarate (0.5%) in a Turbula TF2 mixer (B<strong>as</strong>el, Switzerland) <strong>for</strong> 5 minutes.Blends were directly compressed on a Flexitab trilayer tablet press (Oystar - Manesty,Germany) using 13 mm normal flat punches. Dwell time w<strong>as</strong> set at 30 ms and <strong>the</strong> compaction<strong>for</strong>ce varied from 4-12kN.2.5 Flow properties and compressibilityCompressibility index I (Carr‘s index) values <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> different <strong>for</strong>mulations weredetermined by me<strong>as</strong>uring <strong>the</strong> tapped bulk and poured bulk volumes <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> powders aftersubjecting to 100 taps in a graduated me<strong>as</strong>uring cylinder using <strong>the</strong> following equation [21] :VI ( 1) 100V o(3.1)V is <strong>the</strong> freely settled volume <strong>of</strong> a given m<strong>as</strong>s <strong>of</strong> a powder and V o is <strong>the</strong> tapped volume <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>same m<strong>as</strong>s <strong>of</strong> powder.43 | P a g e