Metoclopramide HCl is a potent dopamine receptor antagonist used for its anti emetic and prokinetic properties. Thus it is primarly used to treat nausea and vomiting, and to facilitate gastric emptying in patients with gastroparesis. In the presence study, fast disintegrating tablets of Metoclopramide HCl were prepared for to enhance patient compliance by wet granulation method. In the presence study, to prepare fast disintegrating tablets of the drug using, plantago ovata mucilage and crospovidone were used as superdisintegrants (2.5 to 10 % w/w) along with starch paste as a binder. The disintegrant incorporated during the wet granulation process as extra granular incorporation. The prepared tablets were evaluated for hardness, friability, drug content uniformity, wetting time, water absorption ratio and in vitro dispersion time. Based on in vitro dispersion time ( approximately 13 s), the two formulations were tested for the in vitro drug release, short term stability (at 400/75% RH for 3 months) and drug excipient interaction (IR spectroscopy). Among the two promising formulations, the formulations prepared by using 10% w/w of plantago ovata mucilage and 32% w/w of starch paste as emerged as the overall best formulation (t50% 2.50 min) compared to conventional commercial tablets formulation (t50% 6.20 min). Short-term stability studies on the formulations indicated that there are no significant changes in drug content and in vitro dispersion time (p<0.05). The results concluded that natural super disintegrants like Plantago ovata mucilage showed better disintegrating property than the most widely used synthetic super disintegrant like cross povidone in the formulations of Fast disintegrating tablets.
