Aceclofenac (ACE) is NSAIDs of a phenyl acetic acid class. It is indicated in arthritis and osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis. It has short elimination half life of 4 hours. The objective of the study is to design, characterize and evaluate bioadhesive microspheres of ACE employing carbopol (CP) as bioadhesive polymer. Bioadhesive microspheres of ACE were prepared by solvent evaporation method. The prepared microspheres were free flowing and spherical in shape and characterized for drug loading, mucoadhesion test, infrared spectroscopy (IR), differential scanning colorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The in-vitro release studies were performed using pH 6.8 phosphate buffer. The drug loaded microspheres in a ratio of 1:5 showed 47% of drug entrapment; percentage mucoadhesion was 81% and 89% release in 10 h. The infrared spectra and DSC showed stable character of aceclofenac in the drug loaded microspheres and revealed the absence of drug-polymer interactions. SEM studies showed that the microspheres are spherical and porous in nature. The in vitro release profiles from microspheres of different polymer-drug ratios followed Higuchi model.
