Furosemide is a potent and commonly used loop diuretic. It is absorbed largely in the stomach and upper small intestine. This narrow absorption window is responsible for its low bioavailability of about 50%, and variable and erratic absorption. The objective of the present investigation was to formulate and evaluate floating microspheres of furosemide for prolonged buoyancy with sustained delivery of the drug into the gastric content. Furosemide loaded microspheres were prepared by the solvent evaporation method. The drug entrapment efficiency was high for all of the formulations ranging from 86.2 to 98.4%. The yield of microspheres production was good partticularly at increased EC/HPMC ratio and lower temperatures. Drug amount and EC/HPMC ratio showed highly significant effects (p<0.0001) on cumulative drug release and buoyancy of microspheres. Floating microspheres that effectively sustain the drug release more than 12 h and exhibit buoyancy of greater than 77% in 12 h were developed. Finally the study confirmed that various furosemide loaded EC/HPMC microspheres formulations could be developed that effectively sustain the drug release for a desired period by varing the ratio of EC and HPMC, and drug amount.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.