Development and characterization of rifampicin loaded floating microspheres.

Gastroretentive floating microspheres have a potential for enhancing the bioavailability and controlled delivery of drugs. The present study involves development of rifampicin floating microspheres in order to increase the gastric retention time. The microspheres were prepared by solvent evaporation technique and characterized for particle size, shape, zeta-potential, entrapment, and release kinetics. The developed systems were almost spherical in shape. The entrapment efficiency was found to be 86.34%. The percentage buoyancy after 8 hours was found to be 61.06. The prepared microspheres exhibited prolonged drug release in gastric medium and hence could be utilized for sustained delivery of anti-tubercular drugs.