Some characteristics and allopurinol release of carrageenan/allopurinol films using polyethylene oxide as a dispersion aid agent

Abstract

This paper presents the effect of carrageenan (CG) on some characteristics and drug release of allopurinol in the presence of polyethylene oxide (PEO) as a dispersion aid agent. The samples were prepared in film shape by solution method, in which, the content of PEO was changed from 1 wt.% to 5 wt.% and the content of allopurinol was fixed at 10 wt.% in comparison with carrageenan weight. Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) methods were used to evaluate interactions and morphology of CG/PEO/allopurinol films. Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) analysis was used to determine drug loading capacity and drug release of CG/PEO/allopurinol films. The IR spectra of CG/PEO/allopurinol films showed that the sulfate groups in CG interacted with C-O and OH groups in PEO and C=O, N-H groups in allopurinol. The SEM images of films indicated that allopurinol could disperse regularly in CG matrix as using 2 wt.% PEO. The drug loading capacity of CG films was reached from 49.33 to 92.32 %, depending on the PEO content. From the data of drug release of CG/PEO/allopurinol films in pH 7.4 and pH 2 buffer solutions, the CG/PEO/allopurinol film prepared at 2 wt.% of PEO had best drug release control ability.