Comparative effect of natural and synthetic superdisintegrants on release profile of piroxicam fast dissolving tablets

Fast dissolving tablets (FDTs) have received promising demand in last decade, to enhance bioavailability and patient compliance, thus hastily establishing this field in pharmaceutical industry. These FDTs tends to dissolve or disintegrate in oral cavity requiring no additional water for administration of medicinal agent. Piroxicam, a potent NSAID, has been recommended orally for the treatment of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and acute gout disease. It is poorly water soluble drug and when administered orally it may cause bioavailability problems due to its poor solubility and dissolution rates in biological fluids. The aim is to formulate such a tablet which rapidly disintegrate and dissolve to produce rapid onset of action. i.e. analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic action. So, in present research an attempt had been made to formulate FDTs of piroxicam by using Plantago ovata mucilage and seed powder as natural superdisintegrant in varying concentrations and comparing its effectiveness to synthetic super disintegrant sodium starch glycolate. FDTs were characterized by FTIR studies, thermal analysis, PXRD studies and SEM analysis. Weight variation, friability, hardness, disintegration time, drug content uniformity, wetting time and in vitro dissolution studies were performed on formulated tablets. It was concluded that mucilage powder isolated from Plantago ovata showed better disinte-grating property among the natural superdisintegrants showing significant disintegration time, improved dissolution rate with improved bioavailability and enhanced efficacy but to lesser extent than synthetic superdisintegrant sodium starch glycolate.