Pharmaceutical Technology (Tablets)
Tablets: It is defined as a solid pharmaceutical unit containing one or more active ingredients and formed by compression or molding into uniform solid particle sizes with the help of suitable pharmaceutical excipients.
Tablets uses:
1- Systemic drug delivery: Most tablets are used as systemic drug delivery this is done by taking the tablets, then dissolving them in the stomach and releasing the drug through the stomach wall to reach the circulatory system and distribute it to the organ or body exactly according to the purpose of using the drug and the target organ.
2- Local drug delivery: It is used to a limited extent in the treatment of some diseases, as this happens by taking a tablet to dissolve in the mouth or stomach without crossing the digestive system to reach the blood circulation, that is, it treats some pathological conditions such as hyperacidity and as anti-gas.
What happens when the tablets reach the stomach?
When the tablets reach the stomach, a number of processes occur, such as dissolution, disintegration, and absorption into systemic circulation, mechanism of action:
The First stage: The disintegration of the tablets in the stomach into granules occurs but slowly because the surface area of the tablets is few.
The second phase: disintegration of granules into primary particles occurs, but here the rate of dissolution is higher than in the first stage because the surface area of the granules is large.
The third stage: When the tablets are disintegrated into primary particles, the particles become very few, which helps in the absorption of the drug through the stomach wall to the systemic circulation and distribution of the drug in the body.
The smaller the size of the particles, the greater the rate of dissolution and dissociation of the particles due to the increase in the surface area, which leads to an increase in the active contact between the particles.