Design and evaluation of gastroretentive mucoadhesive cephalexin tablets.

The aim of this investigation was to develop gastroretentive mucoadhesive tablets of cephalexin, which will retain in the stomach for 10 h. Cephalexin, a first-generation cephalosporin, becomes ionized in intestinal pH because pKa is 4.5 and thus reducing its bioavailability. The various batches were prepared by wet granulation method using variety of mucoadhesive polymers such as hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose K4M, hydroxyl propyl cellulose, chitosan, carbopol 934P and sodium carboxymethylcellulose and subjected to various evaluation parameters such as mucoadhesive strength, in vitro drug release profile, swelling characteristics and physical properties. It was evident from the study that the formulation containing HPMC K4M and carbopol 934P in combination exhibited maximum mucoadhesive strength of 144.42 gms, in vitro residence time was 8.73 h and in vitro drug release was found to be 75.03% in 10 h with non-Fickian diffusion mechanism. So, the optimized formulation F(2) was further subjected to in vivo retention time in rabbit by X-ray technique, SEM and Accelerated stability studies. Regarding all the properties evaluated, the formulation containing HPMC K4M and carbopol 934P in combination was found to be the best to achieve the aim of this study.