Formulation and Evaluation of Metronidazole Tablets Prepared from Irvingia gabonensis as Binder

Background: Metronidazole tablets was formulated using Irvingia gabonensis (ogbono) as binder. The use of plants as excipients in drug formulation and development is quite desirable as they are generally regarded as safe (GRAS). In addition, Plants are cheap, biocompatible and readily available.

Methods: The tablets were produced by wet granulation method using corn starch as binder at concentrations of 5, 10, 15 and 20 % w/w, and as disintegrant (5% w/w). The micromeritic properties of the granules were determined using the direct and indirect methods. The official and non-official tests carried out on the tablets were; uniformity of tablets weight, content of active ingredient, disintegration test, hardness, friability tests and in vitro drug release.

Results: The results showed that the granules had good flow properties as the values obtained were within the specified limits for the production of good quality tablets. Deviations obtained from the tablet weight uniformity test were significantly (p< 0.05) below 5%. Tablets disintegration time ranged from 1.86 ± 0.2 min to 27.3 ± 2.20 for all the batches. The tablets hardness ranged from 6.25 ± 2.36 to 9.30 ± 1.58 kgf.

Conclusion: In vitro release showed that Metronidazole tablets produced from Irvingia gabonensis had T25, T50 and T70 % at 3, 7 and 20 min respectively. The tablets formulated followed zero order kinetics via fickian diffusion.