Abstract:

Propranolol hydrochloride, a non-selective β - adrenergic receptor blocking agent, has been widely used for treatment of hypertension. Its oral bioavailability is very lowbecause of its short half-life. Thus, the gastro-retentive drug delivery system is selected to improve oral bioavailability of propranolol.  The aim of present study was an attempt to formulate and evaluate Raft forming floating drug delivery system of propranolol hydrochloride.Raft formulation offers sustained drug release as well as prolonged gastric retention of propranolol. Propranolol raft formulation prepared by simple gelation method by using polymers sodium alginate, pectin, and   gellan gum as  a gel forming polymer and their combination to produce six formulations(F1-F6).

The FTIR study has shown that there is a good compatibility between the drug and polymer. All the formulations were subjected for evaluation like physical appearance, pH, viscosity, in vitro gelling capacity and measurement of water uptake by the gel, in-vitro drugrelease, drug content, in-vitro floating study. The formulation F5 containing combination of sodium alginate and gellan gum was found to be best formulation since itexhibited a good appearance, in vitro gelling capacity, viscosity, in vitro floating ability and the amount of drug release was found to be 96.42%. The kinetic study showed that it follows zero order model by non fickian release mechanism.