Characterization and Evaluation of Disintegrant Property of Pre-gelatinized Tigernut Starch in Paracetamol Tablet

Abstract

Starch had been used as pharmaceutical excipient in the production of tablets. Studies on the use of starch both as binder and disintegrant had been reported. Several studies revealed that Tigernuts (cyperus esculentus) served as a source of starch. However, the study of pregelatinized tigernut starch as disintegrant in solid dosage form has not been reported. The study aimed at extraction, modification and characterization of starch from tiger nut as well as evaluating the disintegrant properties of the modified starch. The starch was extracted using standard method and has undergone pregelatinization to obtained pregelatinized starch. The modified starch was characterized and used as disintegrant in formulation of tablet. The hardness/weakness of the tablets were assessed using crushing strength test and friability value while the release profile were assessed using disintegration and dissolution times of the tablet. The result of hydration and swelling capacity shows that the pre-gelatinized starch has high value of 0.36 and 2.67 as compared with native starch of 0.24 and 2.38, and corn starch of 0.20 and 2.10 respectively. The tablets formed at optimized concentration (5% w/w) with pre-gelatinized tigernut starch (PGS) disintegrated at 5.51 min while the native tigernut starch (CES) disintegrated at 10.12 min, and the corn starch at 36.58 min respectively. Pre-gelatinized tigernut starch has shown good disintegrant property as such can be used as a pharmaceutical excipient in paracetamol tablet formulation.