Mechanistic Understanding of Food Effects: Water Diffusivity in Gastrointestinal Tract Is an Important Parameter for the Prediction of Disintegration of Solid Oral Dosage Forms

Much interest has been expressed in this work on the role of water diffusivity in the release media as a new parameter for predicting drug release. NMR was used to measure water diffusivity in different media varying in their osmolality and viscosity. Water self-diffusion coefficients in sucrose, sodium chloride, and polymeric hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) solutions were correlated with water uptake, disintegration, and drug release rates from trospium chloride immediate release tablets. The water diffusivity in sucrose solutions was significantly reduced compared to polymeric HPMC and molecular sodium chloride solutions. Water diffusivity was found to be a function of sucrose concen…