(631s) Dissolution of Non-Disintigrating Solid Dosage Forms In a Modified Dissolution Testing Apparatus 2

In the pharmaceutical industry, dissolution testing is routinely carried out to determine the dissolution rate of oral solid dosage forms. The United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) Dissolution Apparatus 2 is the most commonly used device used in dissolution testing. Although the equipment and procedures are listed in the USP, errors and test failures still remain. 

Hydrodynamics effects have been shown to play a major role on testing performance, and tablet location in the dissolution vessel can have a significant effect on the dissolution profile. Changing the location of the impeller can change the hydrodynamics effects in the bottom area of the vessel.  Thus, a Modified Dissolution Testing Apparatus 2 is being proposed here, whose impeller is located off center. 

In this work, the dissolution profiles of non-disintegrating calibrator tablets containing salicylic acid were experimentally determined using two systems, i.e., a Standard USP Dissolution Testing Apparatus 2 (Standard System) and a Modified Standard USP Dissolution Testing Apparatus 2 (Modified System) in which the impeller was located 8 mm off the vessel centerline.  The dissolving tablets were located at different off-center positions on the vessel bottom to test the effect of tablet location in these two systems.

Tablet dissolution in the Standard System was found to be strongly dependent on tablet location, as previously reported by this and other research groups.  This apparatus appears to generate variable results that may not be associated with the tablets undergoing testing but with the hydrodynamic characteristics of the apparatus itself and the location of the tablet on the vessel bottom.  However, when the same experiments were conducted in the Modified System, the dissolution profiles for the same tablets were found to be nearly completely insensitive to tablet location.

The dissolution process in the Modified System was faster than that in the Standard System because of the improved mixing performance of the Modified System resulting from the non-symmetrical placement of the impeller.  However, when the Modified System was operated at 35 rpm, the dissolution profiles for centrally located tablets were found to be very similar to those for the Standard System operating at 50 rpm.  Unlike the Standard System however, the dissolution profiles obtained at 35 rpm in the Modified System were found to be insensitive to tablet location.

It can be concluded that the newly proposed Modified System for dissolution testing is a simple and yet robust and valid alternative to the current dissolution testing practice using the Standard USP Dissolution Testing Apparatus.