Applicability of Bottom-View Cameras for Evaluation of Tablet Performance During Dissolution Testing

Abstract

Visualization techniques are frequently used to provide additional information on dissolution processes. The camera system used here, placed underneath the dissolution bath, enabled a bottom view into each separate vessel with the possibility for continuous video recording throughout dissolution testing. Drug release and swelling of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) matrix tablets containing either diclofenac sodium or paracetamol were simultaneously evaluated in a series of media with pH values of 3.0 to 7.5. Swelling of HPMC tablets was studied using two methods: evaluation of the relative change in tablet volume using the camera system and evaluation of relative change in tablet mass based on tablet weighing. The correlation between evaluated parameters in the two methods was high at all pH values for the tablets studied. Swelling of diclofenac sodium tablets was lowest at pH 3, highest at pH 4, and then decreased with the increasing pH of the medium. In contrast to the swelling results, drug release from diclofenac sodium tablets increased with increasing pH of the medium. At lower media pH values (i.e., 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0), the surface of the swelled layer appeared completely white and nontransparent, whereas at higher pH values, a transparent gel layer was clearly seen using the camera system. It is presumed that because of its low solubility, diclofenac precipitated as an acid on the tablet surface at lower pH values and was seen as a white swelled layer. For paracetamol tablets, drug release and swelling were pH independent, and a gel layer was clearly seen in all media tested (pH 3.0, 5.0, and 7.0). Thus, for HPMC tablets containing diclofenac sodium, the use of cameras provided additional information on the drug release and swelling process.

Monitoring and Analysis Solid Formulation Dissolution Phenomenon with Image Recognition Technologies

“…Recording and analysis of dissolution test videos are for studying tablet behavior during the dissolution test. In Felicijan's study [ 1 ], an iron wire was used to fix the tablet at the bottom of the dissolution cup. Then, a 10-second video of the dissolution process was recorded at each sampling point.…”