Development Of 3D Printing Metoprolol Tartrate Tablets And Evaluation Of Rheology

Objective: The aim of this paper is development for the fabrication 3D printed tablets by pressure assisted mircosyring 3D printing and evaluation of rheology for print inks.Metoprolol tartrate was selected as the model drug to study the suitability of 3D printing for the fabrication of tablets with different excipients and the dissolution profiles of the printed tablets.In addition,two models were applied to analysis rheological parameters for 3D printing inks.It is expected that the project can provide effective reference for the application of pressure assisted mircosyring 3D printing in the field of pharmaceutical industry,and practical data for the material selection of this technology.Method: Metoprolol tartrate,a common hypertension drug,was selected as a model drug,and the tablet was prepared by 3D printing in this paper.Twenty-four types of tablets with eight main excipients and three different concentrations were designed and prepared.All of the printed tablets had satisfactory physical properties and dissolution profiles.These data were compared for investigating effect of printed tablet with different excipients.Frist,it was investigated that whether 3D print inks could be prepared by using common excipients,then printability of inks have been prepared and qualified tablets have been printed.Printed tablets were evaluated for physical and mechanical properties such as weight variation,hardness and size as the standard to investigate the effect of different inks.For the comparison to the printed tablet for dissolution profiles of the printed tablets,components were mixed sufficiently with same formulation and compressed directly with approximate sizes of print tablets.Finally,yield stress,consistency coefficient and flaw behavior index were analyzed using Power Law model and Herschel–Bulkley model.The work presented in this paper describes a method for the assessment of the printability of inks developed for pressure assisted mircosyring 3D printing.Result: In this paper,generally,it is found that the printed tablets is higher hardness and lower density.Moreover,the appearance and quality of 3D printing tablets depend on the viscosity of printing inks.When preparing 3D printing preparations with hydrophilic gel matrix materials,the qualified tablets can be produced only within suitable viscosity.In terms of drug preparation,most of the hydrophilic materials,such as HPMC K15 M,HPMC K4 M,HPC HXF and HPC MXF,are suitable for the pressure assisted mircosyring 3D printing,while other materials are not extruded fluently due to unsuitable viscosity;stearic acid and Eurdigit RL100 are suitable for this technology,despite Eurdigit RL100 is hard to dry.In terms of dissolution,the dissolution profiles of printed tablets are nearly similar to that of traditional preparations,but many differences have been discovered.In general,the release rate of printed tablet is related to the type and amount of sustained-release materials in the tablet,which is close to the traditional tablet.Although an initial burst release of printed tablets occurred from most formulations,the release rate of 3D printing tablet is lower than that of traditional tablet with a same low concentration of sustained release excipients.From the perspective of rheological mechanics,the printable inks need have suitable yield stress and consistency coefficient.Only the yield stress of the printing ink is more than 100 Pa,can the printing ink have enough strength to support the structure of tablets.In the other hands,only the yield stress of the printing ink is less than 1200 Pa and the consistency coefficient is less than 2000 Pa,can the ink be extruded fluently.Conclusion: Through the investigation of tablet quality,pressure assisted mircosyring 3D printing is the potential of for the application in the field of preparation,and can observe different dissolution profiles from the traditional preparation.The results show that pressure assisted mircosyring 3D printing can be used in the field of pharmaceutical preparations,and the tablets can be fabricated with different requirements.The research of the thesis can provide a reference for the application of and the selection of hot melt extrusion excipients.