Dissolution Properties and Kinetic Study of Sulfadimidine and Trimethoprim Tablets Containing Four Different Superdisintegrants.

The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the effect of four superdisintegrants such as croscarmellose sodium (Ac-Di-Sol), crospovidone (Kollidon CL and with smaller particle sizes Kollidon CL-F), sodium starch glycolate (Explotab) in combination with β-lactose and microcrystalline cellulose (Avicel PH-102) as base excipients exhibiting properties of directly compressed tablets and increasing the disintegration and the dissolution rate of sulfadimidine sodium (SDD-Na) and trimethoprim (TMP). All tablets were prepared by direct compression method and superdisintegrants were used at 2% for all formulations. The tablets were evaluated with regard to uniformity of weight, hardness, friability, drug content, disintegration time and dissolution properties. Dissolution properties such as t50% and t80% (time to release 50 and 80% of drug), DP3045 (percent of drug dissolved in 30 and 45 min) and the dissolution rate constant value (K) were considered in comparing the dissolution results. The results showed that crospovidone (Kollidon CL) provides the shortest disintegration time and the fastest rate of dissolution for both TMP and SDD-Na. The kinetic study of the dissolution data reveals that in vitro release profiles of TMP and SDD-Na can be best explained by first order model or by Higuchi model. The obtained data were plotted into Korsmeyer-Peppas equation to find out the confirmed diffusion mechanism. For TMP release, the values of the release exponent are beyond the limits of Korsmeyer model, so-called, power law. For SDD-Na release, exponent values are characteristic for anomalous transport (non-Fickian) or the value of the release exponent is beyond the limits of Korsmeyer model.