Regular ArticleSeveral approaches are used to prolong gastric retention time. These include polymeric bioadhesive systems, 1) swelling and expanding systems, 2,3) and floating drug delivery systems. 4,5) The principle of buoyant preparation offers a simple, practical approach to achieve increased gastric residence time for the dosage form and sustained drug release. 6) In addition, it offers a greater safety for clinical uses than some other approaches. 7) To achieve an intragastric floating system, low-density additives (e.g., fatty acids and fatty alcohols) and gas-generating agents (effervescent type) are used.8) The effervescent type consists of a polymeric matrix containing effervescent components, such as Na-bicarbonate. The matrices are fabricated so that upon arrival in the stomach, carbon dioxide is liberated by the acidity of the gastric contents and is entrapped in a gelling hydrocolloid. This produces an upward motion of the dosage form and maintains its buoyancy.9) Among the hydrocolloids used for this purpose are hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, chitosan, and carboxymethylcellulose.The use of two polymers having opposite charges to form an interpolyelectrolyte complex has recently achieved attention because of the capability of the interpolyelectrolyte complex to achieve more extended drug release than single polymers. The interpolyelectrolyte complex can be synthesized and then used as a matrix former, which was studied for chitosan and polyacrylic acid for the purpose of stomachcontrolled antibiotic delivery. 10) Alternatively, the two polymers are physically mixed to form the matrix, and the interpolyelectrolyte complex is formed in situ during exposure to a simulated gastric fluid. The later approach was studied for chitosan and carboxymethylcellulose as a gastric-specific delivery system for clarithromycin.
11)Polymethacrylates are synthetic cationic or anionic polymers of dimethyl-aminoethylmethacrylates, methacrylic acid, and methacrylic acid esters in varying ratios. They are used in pharmaceutical formulations as film coating agents, bindings, direct-compression excipients, and gel bases.12) Eudragit E (EE) is a cationic polymer prepared by copolymerization of butyl methacrylate, 2-dimethylaminoethylmethacrylate, and methyl methacrylate with mole ratio of 1 : 2 : 1.13) It is soluble in gastric fluid below pH 5.0. 13) Eudragit ® L-100-55 (EL) is an anionic copolymer based on methacrylic acid and methyl methacrylate.14) It exhibits pH dependent solubility and is soluble at pH values higher than 5.5. 14) Although polymethacrylates are widely used in pharmaceutical delivery systems for sustained drug release, their use as matrix former in floating tablets for local drug delivery in the stomach was not routinely addressed in the literature. The influence of Na-bicarbonate on the physicochemical properties of controlled-release hot-melt extruded (HME) tablets containing Eudragit RS PO and/or EE, in comparison with corresponding tablets made using direct compression, was previously investigated. 15...