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Factors Affecting Tablet Disintegration by Immersion in Food Thickener Solution
Shinya Sugiura1, Megumi Nakamura2, Miku Hashimoto2
1Pharmaceutical Sciences, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Teikyo Heisei University, Tokyo, JPN.
Food thickeners like xanthan gum significantly delay tablet disintegration, impacting medication effectiveness. Starch-based thickeners, however, do not affect disintegration times.
Area of Science:
- Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Food Science
Background:
- Food thickeners increase viscosity to aid swallowing but can affect medication tablet disintegration.
- Understanding factors influencing delayed disintegration is crucial for safe medication administration.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of food thickeners on antihypertensive agent tablet disintegration.
- To evaluate the effects of thickener type, disintegrant presence, and immersion time on disintegration.
Main Methods:
- Three antihypertensive tablets were immersed in xanthan gum and starch thickener solutions.
- Disintegration testing was performed under Japanese Pharmacopoeia conditions.
- Linear regression analysis assessed the impact of immersion time (0, 1, 30 min).
Main Results:
- Xanthan gum significantly prolonged tablet disintegration time (80-300 s).
- Norvasc® tablet disintegration extended from 42 s to 187 s after 30 min immersion in xanthan gum.
- Starch-based thickeners did not affect tablet disintegration.
Conclusions:
- Xanthan gum-based food thickeners significantly delay antihypertensive tablet disintegration.
- Starch-based thickeners do not appear to impact tablet disintegration.
- Careful consideration of thickener type is needed when administering oral medications.
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