Investigation of the release of aspirin from spray-congealed micro-pellets

The release behaviour of aspirin from spray-congealed hydrogenated soybean oil micro-pellets of different sizes was studied. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of particle size of micro-pellets on the drug release profile and mechanism. Micro-pellets produced were sieved into several fractions and their drug content and dissolution profiles in two media were determined. The dissolution mechanism was studied by fitting the data to release kinetic models. Micro-pellets with high encapsulation efficiency were successfully produced. The micro-pellets were able to sustain the release of aspirin in pH 1.2 and pH 6.8 dissolution media. As particle size of micro-pellets increased, the drug release rate decreased. The drug release mechanism was affected by the size of micro-pellets. Micro-pellets in the range of 90-250 microm tended to follow the first order or Higuchi model. However, micro-pellets in the range of 250-355 microm were found to follow zero-order release model. This result showed that drug release could be modified by controlling the size of micro-pellets and that controlled release of drug might be achieved by using larger size micro-pellets.