Asked by michelle

What can cause a suppository to be brittle?

I. If the water used to dissolve active drug evaporates.
II. If greater than 30% of active drug ingredient is present in the suppository.
III. If the base gets cooled too quickly.
a. I only
b. II only
c. II and III only
All of the above

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
All of the above.

Brief explanations:
- I: If water in a water-containing base (e.g., glycerinated gelatin) evaporates, the suppository dries out and becomes hard and brittle.
- II: High drug loading (commonly > ~30% for many bases) disrupts the continuous fat/gelling matrix and makes the mass fragile.
- III: Cooling too quickly can produce rapid contraction/cracking or undesirable crystal forms in fatty bases (e.g., cocoa butter), resulting in brittle suppositories.