Examination of gelling agents to produce acetaminophen jelly

Abstract

The current study used 3 types of carrageenan (denoted here as Car)-κ, ι, and λ- to prepare a jelly vehicle for acetaminophen (AAP), and then compared their usefulness as jelly vehicles. The rheological characteristics of each preparation were assessed and then drug elution from the preparation was assessed using dissolution testing. The behavior of each preparation when immersed in water was also examined using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in order to better understand the drug elution behaviour of each preparation. Viscoelasticity measurements revealed that 0.75 w/v%-ι-Car and 1.25 w/v%-λ-Car had viscoelasticity values equivalent to that of 0.5 w/v%-κ-Car. Dissolution testing of these 3 preparations indicated that 100% drug elution took 45 min with 0.5 w/v%-κ-Car while it took only 5 min with 0.75 w/v%-ι-Car and 1.25 w/v%-λ-Car. When deuterium oxide was added to κ-Car 0.5%, the MRI images darkened overall starting immediately after addition. The images revealed that the sample and deuterium oxide quickly mixed. In contrast, images revealed that deuterium oxide gradually penetrated κ-Car 1.0%. MRI images had uniform contrast, and deuterium oxide took 6 h or longer to penetrate the samples overall. These findings suggest that water is less apt to penetrate a jelly with an increased car concentration and a denser 3-dimensional network structure. Differences in the structure of car are said to result in better gelling, with κ having the best gelling characteristics, followed by ι and then λ. Thus, this paper discusses the role that vehicle gelling strength plays in the elution of acetaminophen.