A New Drug Delivery System Using Plasma-Irradiated Pharmaceutical Aids. V. Controlled Release of Theophyline from Plasma-Irradiated Double-Compressed Tablet Composed of a Wall Material Containing Polybenzylmethacrylate

Abstract

A controlled-release tablet was obtained by oxygen plasma irradiation on the outer layer of double-compressed tablets prepared from theophylline as a core material and a copolymer of methylmethacrylate (MMA) and benzylmethacrylate (BzMA) as a single wall material, making this possible that polybenzylmethacrylate (PBzMA) has dual intramolecular functions, a plasma degradable main chain and a plasma-cross-linkable benzyl group in the side chain as an effect of plasma irradiation. It was shown that the dissolution profiles can be varied so as to cause release of theophylline at different rates, depending on the set of conditions chosen for tablet manufacture and for plasma operation.