In vitro evaluation of guar gum as a carrier for colon-specific drug delivery.

A novel tablet formulation for oral administration using guar gum as the carrier and indomethacin as a model drug has been investigated for colon-specific drug delivery using in vitro methods. Drug release studies under conditions mimicking mouth to colon transit have shown that guar gum protects the drug from being released completely in the physiological environment of stomach and small intestine. Studies in pH 6.8 phosphate buffered saline (PBS) containing rat caecal contents have demonstrated the susceptibility of guar gum to the colonic bacterial enzyme action with consequent drug release. The pre-treatment of rats orally with 1 ml of 2% w/v aqueous dispersion of guar gum for 3 days induced enzymes specifically acting on guar gum thereby increasing drug release. A further increase in drug release was observed with rat caecal contents obtained after 7 days of pre-treatment. The presence of 4% w/v of caecal contents obtained after 3 days and 7 days of enzyme induction showed biphasic drug release curves. The results illustrate the usefulness of guar gum as a potential carrier for colon-specific drug delivery. The study also reveals that the use of 4% w/v of rat caecal contents in PBS, obtained after 7 days of enzyme induction provide the best conditions for in vitro evaluation of guar gum.