Controlled release of paroxetine from chitosan/montmorillonite composite films

Controlled drug delivery studies popular in pharmaceutical area; polymeric composites prepared with clay has a great potential importance in drug release studies. The aim of the study is to produce biocoposite material suitable for controlled release of Paroxetine Hydrochloride. In this study, chitosan/clay/paroxetine (CS/MMT/PHH and CS/NaMMT/PHH) composite films were prepared to investigate drug release properties of paroxetine (PHH). Films containing various amounts of clay (MMT/NaMMT) (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 g) and glycerol (0.25, 0.50) were prepared by solvent casting method. The structural properties of drug-containing and non-drug containing films were characterized by FT-IR and SEM analysis. The release studies of PHH were done in vitro and pH 7.4 and at 37 °C temperature. The highest percent of drug release was observed with CS/PHH film after 170 h (69%). It was observed that the drug release profiles of chitosan films containing clay (MMT or NaMMT) were better than films without clay. In order to investigate the drug release mechanism, Korsmeyer-Peppas, Higuchi, Zero and First order kinetic models were used. It was determined that release kinetics of the most of films fit the Korsmeyer-Peppas model, and according to this model, drug release occurs through two mechanisms, swelling-controlled and diffusion-controlled. It has been observed that all films containing clay have long-term drug release. Increasing in clay ratio in the composite, caused decrease in drug release rate. PHH loaded CS/MMT/PHH and CS/NaMMT/PHH films showed steady and prolonged drug delivery. Results indicated that prepared CS/MMT/PHH and CS/NaMMT/PHH films has a potential to act as suitable carrier for drugs.