Nano-Crystalline Cellulose as a Novel Tablet Excipient for Improving Solubility and Dissolution of Meloxicam 

 This study explored the effect of nano-crystalline cellulose (NCC) on Meloxicam (MX) solid dispersion (SD) prepared by co-grinding technique compared to micro-crystalline cellulose (MCC) in presence of lactose. MX-tablets were prepared by direct compression of different co-ground SDs or physical mixtures. The solubility, dissolution, SEM and DSC of different preparations were studied. Flow-through cell apparatus (FTC) was used to study the dissolution of MX from tablets at pH 7.4. Generally, the results revealed that increasing NCC loadings showed a direct increase in both the solubility and dissolution of MX. MCC did not improve either the solubility or the dissolution of MX in the physical mixture, while, co-grinding dramatically decreased the dissolution rate of MX. It was interesting to find that grinding of MX-powder alone or in a mixture with lactose highly increased MX solubility and dissolution. SEM as well as DSC were found to be very good tools, without a single exception, to describe the observed solubility and dissolution of MX in these proposed preparations. SEM-images showed the particle size reduction upon grinding or co-grinding techniques. While DSC-data proved that the crystalline structure of MX has been changed to an amorphous state. 

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Nano-Crystalline Cellulose as a Novel Tablet Excipient for Improving Solubility and Dissolution of Meloxicam
Laila H. Emaraa*, Ahmed A. El-Ashmawy a, Nesrin F. Tahaa, Khaled A. El-Shaffeib, El-Sayed M. Mahdeyb, Heba K. El- khollyc
aIndustrial Pharmacy Laboratory, Medical and Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department, Division of Pharmaceutical Industries, National Research Centre, 33 EL Bohouthst. (former EL Tahrirst.), Dokki, Giza, Egypt. b Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt. cAdvanced Materials and Nanotechnology Group, Center of Excellence for Advanced Science, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt.
Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science Vol. 6 (02), pp. 032-043, February, 2016 Available online at http://www.japsonline.com
DOI: 10.7324/JAPS.2016.60205
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