The aim of the present study was to design and evaluate in situ gelling system for oral
sustained release drug delivery of Famotidine, which was selected as a model drug
due to its short biological half-life (2-3 hrs) and as an H2 receptor antagonist to be
released in stomach. On the basis of the preliminary trials, a 32
full factorial design
was employed to study the effect of independent variables, concentration of pectin
(X1) and concentration of CaCl2 (X2) on dependent variables like viscosity, drug
content, Q50, Q80 and similarity factor. Main effects and interaction terms of the
formulation variables could be evaluate quantitatively by a mathematical model. It
was found that both the pectin and concentration of CaCl2 had significant impact on
viscosity, drug content, Q50, Q80 and similarity factor (f2) of the system. In-vitro
release study revealed that drug released from the insitu gel followed non-fickian
diffusion. In vivo study for the selected batch of sodium alginate was carried out by
pylorus legation method in rats, which showed gel formation in gastric juice and
reduction in ulcer index. Stability study was also carried out for three months, which
showed no major changes from their initial state.