Formulation and Evaluation of Floating tablet of Metronidazole for eradication of Helicobacter pylori

Metronidazole is widely used antimicrobial drug against Gram-negative and Gram-positive anaerobic bacteria. Floating drug delivery systems (FDDS) offer a number of applications for drugs having poor bioavailability because of narrow absorption window in the upper part of gastrointestinal tract. It was used for preparing floating dosage forms that are designed to retain in the stomach for a long time and have developed as a drug delivery system for better eradication of Helicobacter Pylori in peptic ulcer diseases. In the present study hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) and micro crystalline cellulose (MCC) are used in different concentrations and sodium bicarbonate was used as effervescent agent. Five formulations (F1-F5) were prepared and evaluated for various physicochemical parameters like hardness, friability, floating ability and drug release profiles and were found to be within range. In general, these systems can float in the gastric conditions and control the drug release from the tablets. Formulation was optimized on the basis of different tablet properties and drug release pattern in invitro release profile. In this study it was confirmed that the formulations containing polymer like HPMC K15M and MCC showed better floating properties.