Oxprenolol release from bioadhesive gelatin/poly(acrylic acid) microspheres.

Drug release from gelatin/poly(acrylic acid) oxprenolol-loaded microspheres has been evaluated using an in situ sink immersion method and a wetting method. The kinetics of drug release were analysed by applying the empirical exponential equation and by the calculation of the approximate contribution of the diffusional and relaxational mechanism to the anomalous release process by fitting the data to the coupled Fickian/Case II equation. The influence of glutaraldehyde cross-linking agent concentration, the poly(acrylic acid) content, the pH of the release medium and the particle size of the beads on the drug release kinetics were evaluated and discussed.