1

DISSOLUTION EFFICIENCY
BY
PROF. S.I. OFOEFULE

Introduction
Khan and Rhodes introduced the concept of dissolution efficiency (DE) in invitro dissolution
profile studies of drugs. This parameter is claimed to offer a good theoretical correlation
with in vivo data. This is because the dissolution efficiency (DE) as well as the degree of
absorption of a drug in vivois proportional to the concentration of the drug in solution and the
time this solution is in contact with a suitable absorptive region of the GIT.

Illustration

100 12- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
‘
%
release

DE30
A

00 30 60
Time (min)

DE can be calculated at 30 min, 45 min, 60 min. etc. It is calculated as follows:

Areaof A
100
Areaof the rectangle x
1
upto 100 % drug release
Area under the curve (AUC) at 30 min can be calculated using
(a) Counting the square
(b) Use of TrapeZoid rule
(c) Use of integral calculus
(d) Cut and weigh method
(e) Pknimeter.

Calculation of AUC using TrapeZoid Rule

Steps:
1. Dividing whole AUC into trapezoiidal segments

2. Counting the area of each segment separately

3. Summation of all the area

4. Total Area
 2

AUC = ∑ ❑C n-1 + Cn (tn – tn-1)

2
Example: The following data was obtained from an in vitro dissolution experiment of a certain
drug. Calculate the DE30

Time (min.) Hypotetical Data

Cumulative % release
5 10
10 20
15 30
20 40
25 50
30 60
35 70
40 80

Using the above equation

10+20 20+30 30+40 40+50 50=60

∑❑ (10 – 5) + (15 – 10) + (20 – 15) + (25-20) + (30-
2 2 2 2 2
28) = 875