Sara A. Ahmed

The objective of this study is to select between native and treated guar gum as tablet disintegrant and to explore the possible influences of disintegrant content and production method on different tablet attributes using promethazine-HCl as a model drug. Tablet batches were formulated according to 23 full factorial design in which each of the selected factors was investigated at two possible levels for their individual and combined influences on tablets properties. Native and treated gum were considered for guar gum type, guar content was examined at 2 and 8%w/w whereas dry and wet granulation were selected as levels for tablets production method. Guar gum content was demonstrated to affect weight variation, thickness variation and friability properties of different tablet batches (p ranged 0.012-0.038). Guar gum type was also established to influence weight and thickness variation as well as disintegration and drug dissolution properties (p ranged 0.025-0.039). Influences of production method on weight variation, thickness variation, friability, disintegration and drug dissolution properties were found to be considerable (p< 0.05, for all effects). None of the investigated factors has measured a significant effect on tablet hardness property (p ranged 0.4511- 0.9214 for the effects of all factors). Compared to native guar gum, treated guar gum was found to be more efficient as a tablet disintegrant (p= 0.039). Formulations including 2 or 8% w/w treated guar gum and processed by dry granulation were found to yield tablets with average short disintegration time (5.0 ± 0.9 min) and enhanced dissolution efficiency (0.805 ± 0.005).