Abstract

Simvastatin potassium is a hypolipidemic drug used with exercise, diet, and weight-loss to control elevated cholesterol, or hypercholesterolemia. It is a member of the statin class of pharmaceuticals. Okra mucilage is used to reduce the cholesterol level since microspheres has formulated by using okra mucilage to developed a synergistic effect. Calcium chloride act as a cross linking agent, when react with sodium alginate form a calcium alginate, since develope a gel like microbeads (microspheres). The half life of simvastatin is 2h for simvastatin acid. Simvastatin microspheres were prepared by using sodium alginate in combination with Abelmoschus esculentus (Okra), as drug release modifiers in various proportions to overcome the drug related adverse effects. The drug entrapment efficiency increased progressively with increasing concentration of both sodium alginate and okra mucilage resulting in the formation of larger microspheres entrapping greater amounts of the drug. The prepared microspheres were subjected to various evaluation and in vitro release studies. The particle sizes of the prepared microspheres were determined by optical microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis. The prepared microspheres had good spherical geometry with smooth surface as evidence by SEM. Study the capability of the formulation to withstand the physiological environment of the stomach and small intestine.

Keywords: Drug release, microspheres, simvastatin, sodium alginate.

Graphical Abstract