JChrDD  Vol 2  Issue 1  2011: 49-56 Journal of Chronotherapy and Drug Delivery http://www.chronotherapyjournal.com Original Research Paper EFFECT OF TAMARIND SEED POLYSACCHARIDE ON DISSOLUTION BEHAVIOUR OF IBUPROFEN TABLETS Giriraj T Kulkarni 1 *, Paritala Seshubabu 2 , Siddaiah Mahesh Kumar 2 1 Laureate Institute of Pharmacy, Kathog, Kangra 177 101 (India) 2 Department of Pharmaceutics, JSS College of Pharmacy, Ootacamund 643 001 (India) * Corresponding author. Tel: +91-9897166866; Fax: +91-1970-223000; E mail: gtkulkarni@gmail.com Introduction Excipients, which play a key role in the manufacture of finished dosage forms, are taken very much for granted, and have not been given as much attention as the active drugs. Despite this lack of attention, there have been some notable advances in the field of excipients, both in manufacturing technologies and formulation science. 1 Plant polysaccharides are important products that are used as stabilizers, thickeners, and binders in various industries such as paper, food, cosmetic, paint, ink and petroleum industries. Pharmaceutical industries also utilize them as binders and disintegrants in tablets, coating materials in microencapsulation, thickening agents in emulsions and suspensions, and sustaining materials in solid dosage forms. The vast applications of plant polysaccharides are because of the low cost, easy availability, and the important properties which they contribute to the products. 2 As a result of this, the demand for natural polysaccharides has greatly increased. To cope up with the demand, it has become necessary to explore newer sources of polysaccharides. Tamarind seed polysaccharide is a galactoxyloglucan, obtained from the kernels of Tamarindus indica (Family: Leguminosae). It possesses properties like high viscosity, broad pH tolerance and adhesivity. 3 Recently, its non- carcinogenicity, 4 mucoadhesivity, biocompatibility, 5 high drug holding capacity 6 and high thermal stability 7 have been reported. Due to these properties, it is being used as stabilizer, thickener, gelling agent and binder in food industry. But, its application in pharmaceutical formulations has not been evaluated so far. In the present study, therefore, Abstract Binding property of the polysaccharide extracted from the seeds of Tamarindus indica was investigated in tablets using ibuprofen as model drug. The physical properties of granules namely, percentage of fines, particle size, flow properties, and of tablets such as hardness, friability, in vitro disintegration time and in vitro dissolution profiles were studied as assessment parameters. The tablets exhibited satisfactory properties, which were comparable with corn starch. However, the tablets prepared with tamarind seed polysaccharide exhibited slow dissolution profiles. These properties can be attributed to the viscosity, surface nature and swelling index of the isolated polysaccharide. The dissolution profiles of the tablets were analyzed using Kitazawa plots. The results suggest that the tamarind seed polysaccharide can be used in the formulation of delayed release tablets. Key Words: Tamarind seed polysaccharide, Ibuprofen, Tablets, Binding agent, Kitazawa plots Received: Nov 06, 2010 Revised: Jan 15, 2011; Feb 10, 2011 Accepted: Mar 1, 2011