Formulation of Ibuprofen Beads by Ionotropic Gelation

Microencapsulation has become a common technique in the production of controlledrelease dosage forms . many results have been reported, concerning the use of alginate beadsas controlled release drug formulations. alginate has a unique gel-forming property in thepresence of multivalent cations, in an aqueous medium . ibuprofen is an excellent analgesic andantipyretic, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent with a high therapeutic index. formulationof ibuprofen in beads could reduce its gastric ulcerogenicity. hence, in this study the formationof ca-alginate ibuprofen beads, through ionotropic gelation has been investigated.for this purpose, different cross- linking agents including: ca2+, ba2+, mn2+, c02+, sn2+ andpb2+, were used for bead preparation. next, characterization of the beads, size distribution,encapsulation efficiency of ibuprofen within the beads, the bead swelling and the drug releasekinetic were investigated.results showed that only ca ion is suitable for the formation of ibuprofen beads. a goodswelling profile for beads in phosphate buffer (ph=7.4) and the lack ofswelling in hydrochloricacid (ph= 1.2), show the suitable nature of the beads . in addition, formulation ofna-alginate(2%) and ca-chloride (2%) beads,resulted in an encapsulation efficacy of around 90%. thedrug release studies showed a rapid and complete ibuprofen release from the beads, speciallythose prepared from na-alginate (2%) and ca-chloride (2%), in phosphate buffer medium.however, no detectable drug release was observed within the acidic medium.in conclusion, ibuprofen is capable of being n be microencapsulated as a bead formulation,with suitable properties and release profile .