English Abstract A literature study has been carried out on the release
of active substance from monolithic enteric coated tablets and from disperse
enteric coated forms (tablets or capsules) in the dog and the human. No
important differences in gastro-intestinal processing of enteric coated
products have been found between the dog and the human. The difference
between both forms resides is the gastric processing. Monolithic forms are
retained until the stomach is empty and are expelled by the housekeeper
waves. The disperse forms, after desintegration, are treated as liquids and
pass the pylorus gradually. This results in unpredictable gastric passage
and effective plasma concentrations. The disperse forms release the active
substance more uniformly and behave in this aspect more like slow or
extended release products. Further research in this area should be directed
on the discrepancy between release "in vitro" and "in vivo", and on the
relation between higher pH values in the stomach (3-6) and premature release
of the active substance.
