Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Pharmacokinetic Study of a Capsule-based Chronomodulated Drug Delivery System of Salbutamol Sulphate in Rabbits

Mohd Javed Qureshi^1,2 , Javed Ali¹, Sanjula Baboota¹, Alka Ahuja¹, Chitneni Mallikarjun³

¹Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, School of Pharmacy, Taylorâ€™s University, Lakeside Campus, Selangor Malaysia; ²Department of Pharmaceutics, Jamia Hamdard (Hamdard University), New Delhi, India; ³Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

For correspondence:- Mohd Qureshi Email: Mohd.Javed@taylors.edu.my

Received: 9 June 2013 Accepted: 4 November 2013 Published: 25 January 2014

Citation: Qureshi MJ, Ali J, Baboota S, Ahuja A, Mallikarjun C. Pharmacokinetic Study of a Capsule-based Chronomodulated Drug Delivery System of Salbutamol Sulphate in Rabbits. Trop J Pharm Res 2014; 13(1):17-22 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v13i1.3

© 2014 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To develop and determine the in vivo performance of a capsule-based pulsatile drug delivery system containing salbutamol sulphate.

Methods: A controlled pulsatile release of drug after a programmed 4 h lag period was achieved from cross-linked gelatin capsule shells containing salbutamol pellets, and sealed with a suitable mixture of sodium alginate and ethyl cellulose as plug. In order to confirm the utility of developed system for the management of nocturnal asthma, a crossover study was conducted. six male rabbits were fasted overnight and divided into two groups comprised of 3 rabbits each. The individual rabbits were administered the developed pulsatile capsule and immediate release salbutamol capsule as reference, separately. Blood samples were collected from the ear vein of the animals into heparinized tubes and used to determine pharmacokinetic parameters, namely, maximum plasma concentration (C_max), time to reach maximum plasma concentration (T_max), and area under the plasma concentration - time curve (AUC0-∞) using a validated HPLC method.

Results: It was observed that drug release from the optimized time-controlled capsule stopped for a period of approximately 4.25 h with an average C_max and T_max of 271.54 ± 58.95 ng/ml and 6.00 ± 0.25 h. The AUC_0-∞of salbutamol after administration of the time-controlled pulsatile system was 2494.73 ± 525.95 ng h/ml while that of the immediate-release formulation was 2352.77 ± 432.51 ng h/ml. Using ANOVA at a significant difference of p < 0.05 (CI 95%), there was no significant difference for the AUC_0-∞between immediate release and the pulsatile capsule developed.

Conclusion: The developed system is capable of releasing salbutamol after a 4 h lag period and can be considered as promising delivery system for time-controlled (pulsatile) delivery of the medication for the management of nocturnal asthma.

Keywords: pH-controlled release, Lag time, Pulsatile release, Hydrocolloid plug, Nocturnal asthma