1997 年 23 巻 4 号 p. 375-380
Caffeine-containing agar-jelly was considered as a therapy for a patient suffering from severe headache and serious tremors on the upper extremites. However, no reliable information on the release of caffeine from agar was obtainable from a literatur-search. The present study was focused on examining the intactness of caffeine in jelly, the extent of release of caffeine from jelly and the assurance of its bacteria free condition.
Caffeine (50mg) was embedded in 15 ml agar-jelly. The jellies were either kept at room temperature (25°C) or stored in refrigerator (4°C) for a maximum of 7 days, depending on the experiments. The jellies were disintegrated in either the first disintegration test fl uid (pH 1.2) or the second disintegration test fluid (pH 6.8) at 37°C by a mechanical stirring. The extent of dissociation and the recovery of caffeine were then examined by HPLC. Bacterial contamination was examined by a culture.
The preparation of caffeine-containing agar-jelly was simple and easy to use. The intrajelly distribution of caffeine was superb. The release was rapid and plateaued to nearly 100% before 60 min in the two disintegration test fluids. The release took place before its disintegration proceeded. Neither the quantity nor the quality of caffeine was affected by the storage length. In addition no bacterial contamination was observed under the tested conditions.
These results are thus considered to provide a rational biophysical background for the use of caffeine in agar-jelly.
