Study on the characteristics of pectin–ketoprofen for colon targeting in rats

Pectin–ketoprofen (PT-KP) prodrug with the potential for colon targeted delivery has been evaluated. A sensitive HPLC method was established for the determination of concentration of ketoprofen (KP) in rats. This method was also used to evaluate the colon targeting property of PT-KP. KP or PT-KP was given to rats by oral administration at a dosage of 10 mg/kg. Plasma and the different parts of gastrointestinal (GI) tract were taken after 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 h of oral administration of KP or PT-KP to rats and the concentration of KP was measured by HPLC. Preliminary experiments show KP distributes mainly in stomach, proximal small intestine and distal small intestine. However, KP released from PT-KP mainly distributes in cecum and colon. Therefore, this approach suggests that PT-KP prodrug has a good colon targeting property.