Formulation and In-Vitro Evaluation of 5-Fluorouracil Microcapsules by using Different Methods of Microencapsulation

Oral route has been one of the most popular routes of drug delivery dueto its easeof administration, patience compliance and least sterility constraints and flexible design of dosage forms. Time release technology, also known as sustained-release (SR), sustained-action (SA), extended-release(ER), time-release ortimed-release, controlled-release(CR), modifiedrelease (MR) or continuous-release (CR), is a mechanism used in pill tablets or capsules to dissolve slowly and release a drug overaprolong period oftime. Different polymers are employed dueto their insitugel forming characteristics and their ability to release entrapped drug in the specific medium by swelling and cross-linking. Hydrophilic polymer matrix is widely used for formulating an SRdosageform. Because of increased complication and expense involved in marketing of newdrug entities, has focused greater attention on development of sustained release or controlled releasedrug delivery system. Matrix system is widely used for the purpose of sustainedrelease. Infact, a matrix is defined as a well-mixed composite of one or more drugs with gelling agent i.e. hydrophilic polymers. By the sustained release method therapeutically effective concentration can be achieved in the systemic circulation over an extended period of time, thus achieving better compliance of patients. Sustained release dosage forms are prepared by coating the tablets so that the rate of solubility is controlled or individual encapsulating microparticles of varying size sothat the rate of dissolution can be controlled. With the development of modern synthetic ion exchange resins, pharmaceutical industry adapted the ion exchange technology to achieve sustained release of drug. In the in-vitro drug release study, the drug release from the microcapsules required a longer time in experimental conditions. But in actual use in living systems these limitations for pH environment and it will never be felt. Therefore the microcapsules will be take place completely and rapidly in the colon region. While analyzing the drug release pattern of the drug from the microcapsules, it was found that the drug release started in the early hours of study. This was due to change in pH. Out of the nine formulations, it appears that F9 has the maximum potential in providing controlled drug delivery