The present study was undertaken to assess the potential of Tamarind seed polysaccharide (TSP) to act as a biodegradable carrier for colon specific
drug delivery. Hence an attempt was made to develop matrix tablet based formulation using TSP which protects the drug in upper GIT and release
the major amount of drug in colon due to degradation by bacterial enzymes. The matrix tablets were prepared by wet granulation technique
containing different concentrations (30% w/w to 70% w/w) of TSP using Ibuprofen as a model drug. The matrix tablets were evaluated for
different quality control tests, content uniformity and invitro
drug release study. Drug release profile of prepared tablets was evaluated in
simulated gastric fluid (0.1N HCl), simulated intestinal fluid (pH 7.4 Sorensen’s phosphate buffer) and simulated colonic fluid (2% w/v rat caecal
contents and 4% w/v rat caecal contents ) in pH 6.8 Sorensen’s phosphate buffer before and after enzyme induction. The invitro
biodegradation
studies suggested that TSP is degraded in presence of rat caecal contents (RCC). It was further revealed that enzyme induction leads to better
biodegradation of TSP. DSC studies showed the absence of any possible drug excipient interaction. The invitro
drug release studies demonstrated
that only 7.24% of drug was released in upper GIT and 81.71% in colon. The 4% w/v RCC after 7 days of enzyme induction degraded TSP
remarkably and its presence in dissolution medium provided best conditions for assessing the susceptibility of TSP to colonic bacterial degradation.
The results of invitro
drug release study indicate that the matrix tablets prepared by using TSP are able to carry most of the drug to the colon and
restrict the release in upper GIT.