Utilization of Eeggshell powder as excipient in fast and sustained release acetaminophen tablets

Abstract

Eggshell powder has been investigated for the new application as pharmaceutical excipient in tablet dosage form. Acetaminophen was used as a model drug in this study. Four different eggshell powders were prepared. These included untreated eggshell powder, water treated, ethanol treated and chloroform treated eggshell powders. The treated samples were prepared by surface modification using 1.0 % w/v stearic acid in solvent namely deionized water, 95 % ethanol and chloroform. The tablets containing acetaminophen, eggshell powder and microcrystalline cellulose were prepared by direct compression method. Dissolution studies of four acetaminophen formulations in pH 5.8 phosphate buffer were performed using USP Dissolution Apparatus II. The results show that immediate release of acetaminophen was obtained from tablets containing untreated eggshell powder whereas sustained release of the drug was obtained from the tablet formulations containing three different treated eggshell powders. Sustained release of the drug may be due to hydrophobic nature of the treated eggshell powders. It was also found that the degree of hydrophobicity of the treated eggshell powders depends on the type of solvent used in surface modification process. The results obtained from this study show that eggshell powder appears to be applicable as a pharmaceutical excipient to control the drug release from the tablet. Additionally, this finding may be useful to generate public interest in development of biomaterials from eggshell waste by proposing the new application of eggshell powder in pharmaceutical industry.