DEVELOPMENT OF LIQUISOLID FORMULATION FOR IMPROVED SUSTAINED RELEASE OF PROPRANOLOL HYDROCHLORIDE

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a liquisolid formulation of propranolol hydrochloride to obtain an improved sustained release profile by varying the ratio of liquid vehicles. Methods: In this study, propranolol hydrochloride (PPH) was dispersed in the combination of propylene glycol and polysorbate 80, as the liquid vehicles, with different ratios. Eudragit® RL and Aerosil® were used as carrier and coating materials, respectively, to produce a dry and free-flowing powder. In addition, HPMC was used to amplify the retardation effect. The prepared formulations were evaluated for its physicochemical properties, including loss on drying, flow rate, angle of repose calculation, drug content analysis, FT-IR spectroscopy, as well as dissolution studies. The obtained dissolution profiles were subsequently fitted to the mathematical model in order to determine the drug kinetics. Results: The results show that all formulations performed dry and free-flowing granules containing PPH in the range of 7-9%. Furthermore, all the prepared formulations were able to sustain the drug release for a total of 8 h in two different dissolution media, namely simulated gastric fluid and simulated intestinal fluid. F4 containing propylene glycol and polysorbate 80 (1:2) possessed the lowest drug release rate. It was also obtained that F1 and F3 followed first-order kinetics while F2, F4, and F5 complied with the Higuchi model. Conclusion: Overall, there was no difference in all the dissolution profiles based on the calculation of the difference and similarities factor