Modification of sterculia gum with methacrylic acid to prepare a novel drug delivery system.

The present paper deals with the modification of the sterculia gum with methacrylic acid (MAAc) to hydrogels for use in drug delivery. The hydrogels were characterized by SEMs, FTIR and swelling studies. The release dynamics of model anti-ulcer drug (ranitidine hydrochloride) from the hydrogels has been studied for the evaluation of the release mechanism. The values of the diffusion exponent 'n' (0.55, 0.54 and 0.59) and gel characteristic constant 'k' (2.109 x 10(-2), 3.698 x 10(-2) and 2.427 x 10(-2)) have been obtained, respectively, in distilled water, pH 2.2 buffer and pH 7.4 buffer. The release of the drug from the hydrogels occurred through non-Fickian diffusion mechanism.