Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
Bayor, M.T., Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana; Tuffour, E., Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana; Lambon, P.S., Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
Starches from four new sweet potato genotypes were evaluate for use as tablet diluents, binders and disintegrants; using a commercially available maize starch as reference. The pre-formulation studies established low pH (5.1-5.9) and moisture content (10.0-13.1%), but high bulk density (0.50-0.58), tapped density (0.75-0.82) and true density (1.15-1.18) for the sweet potato starches. Hardness and friability of tablets formulated with sweet potato starches as binder were significantly better (p = 0.001) than similar compacts containing maize starch. The sweet potato starches also caused significantly faster tablet disintegration and release of paracetamol (p = 0.005). The results established the sweet potato starches as stronger pharmaceutical diluents, binders and disintegrants, compared to the commercially available maize starch. © 2013 Manoharan Sharanya et al.