Directly compressed tablets containing Chitin or Chitosan in addition to lactose or potato starch.

Abstract

As a part of a series of study on pharmaceutical applications of chitin and chitosan, the fluidity and compressibility of combined powders of lactose with chitin and chitosan, and potato starch with chitin and chitosan, as well as the disintegration properties of the tablets made from these powders were investigated in comparison with those of crystalline cellulose with lactose and potato starch. The lubricating properties of combined powders of lactose with chitin and chitosan were also investigated in comparison with those of lactose with crystalline cellulose. The fluidity of combined powders with chitin and chitosan was greater than that of the powder with crystalline cellulose. The hardest tablet was obtained with chitosan, followed by crystalline cellulose and chitin in that order. Tablets containing less than 70% of chitin or chitosan passed the disintegration test of JP X. The ejection force of the tablets of lactose/chitin and lactose/chitosan was significantly smaller than that of lactose/crystalline cellulose tablets. It is suggested that chitin and chitosan may be suitable for use as diluents with friction-lowering properties in direct compression processes.