Many in vitro tests that can simulate gastrointestinal conditions in vitro more closely than pharmacopoeial methods have been developed. With this purpose we have evaluated in this thesis the release of dipyridamole (DIP) from tablets using the flow-through system with glass beads in a sequence of media that illustrates individual pH profiles. Selected pH profiles, that have been simulated before, represent different pH values and different retention times along the gastrointestinal tract. pH profiles had to be optimised by slightly changing the media sequence in order to achieve a certain degree of analogy with the in vivo pH profiles from study on volunteers from the literature. We made tablets with different compositions and, based on the dissolution test in USP II, selected the formulation with a suitable composition, which was tested in the flow-through system. The final formulation contained 25.0% of dipyridamole and 75.0% of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC, Pharmacoat 603). During dissolution tests in the flow-through system precipitation was observed due to supersaturation of DIP after the increase in pH value, which simulated the passage from the stomach to the duodenum. For this reason, the collected samples were prepared in two different ways, which enabled us to simultaneously determine the total concentration of the released DIP and the percentage of the dissolved DIP. The proportions of the dissolved and total released DIP in the samples differed from each other because the increase in pH value that simulated the passage from the stomach to the duodenum produced drug precipitation. In the case of the total DIP release profiles broken curve of drug release occurred due to the transfer of the accumulated precipitate in the drainage tube in the cylinders with collected samples. Based on the results, we determined that different retention times in the acid and acid concentration influenced the release of DIP the most. The longer the retention time, the higher the concentration of the total released DIP. An observation made during this research suggests, that the pH, the rate of pH increase along the profile, the disintegration of the tablet and the medium that simulates the passage through small intestine could all influence the dissolution rate of DIP in the flow-through system. Further research would be required to determine the key factors of DIP release in the flow-through system.
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