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The objective of this work is to investigate the effect of molecular weight of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and release medium on the release of nifedipine (NP) from PEO tablets containing NP and to get some mechanistic insights into the release of NP. The tablets containing NP were prepared by direct compression, using a flat-faced punch and die. The molecular weights of PEOs used were 200K, 900K, 2000K and 7,000K. The release kinetics were studied for 24 hours in aqueous ethanol solution, using a dissolution tester at 36.5?C and 100 rpm. Drug release rate increased, as the concentration of ethanol in the dissolution medium increased, due to the increased solubility of NP. As the molecular weight of PEO increased, release rate decreased, due to the slower swelling and dissolution of PEO. The power values obtained by fitting data to the power law expression (Mt/M∞=ktn) indicated that, at low ethanol concentration, the release of NP is governed by anomalous diffusion. However, as the ethanol concentration increases, diffusional release becomes to prevail over anomalous or zero-order release. Overall, these results provided some insights into the release of NP from PEO tablet.
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