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Chitosan is a biodegradable, biocompatible polymer of natural origin widely applied to the preparation of functional hydrogels suitable for controlled release of drugs, peptides and proteins. Non-covalent interactions, expecially ionic interactions, are the main driver of the loading and release behaviour of amino acids or peptides from chitosan hydrogels. With the aim to improve the understanding of the mechanisms governing the behaviour of chitosan hydrogels on peptide uptake and delivery, in this paper the attention was focused on the role played by sulfur on the interactions of chitosan hydrogels with sulfur-containing amino acids (AA) and peptides. Hence, loading and release experiments on cysteine, cystine and glutathione (SH containing amino acid, dipeptide and tripeptide, respectively) as well as on glycine and valine as apolar amino acids were carried out. For these puroses, chitosan hydrogels were prepared in an easy and reproducible manner by a freeze-gelation process on a poly-L-lysine coated support. The hydrogel surface pore size, uniformity and distribution were tested. Optimal results (D50 = 26 ± 4 μm) were obtained by using the poly-L-lysine positively-charged surface. The loading results gathered evidenced that the sulfur-containing molecules presented an increased absorption both in terms of rate and extent by chitosan hydrogels with respect to nonpolar amino acids, mainly due to ionic and hydrogen bond interactions. ATR-FTIR analysis carried out on chitosan hydrogels, with and without the AA related compounds to study putative interactions, supported these apparent sulfur-dependent results. Finally, chitosan hydrogels displayed excellent retention capabilities (AA release <5%) for all AA, strongly supporting the use of chitosan hydrogels as matrix for controlled drug release., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The aim of this research was to study, in vitro by resultant-weight measurement and in vivo by gamma-scintigraphy experiments in humans, the floatation behavior of systems obtained by modules assembled in void configuration. The assembled system technology allowed the manufacturing of a system characterized by the presence of an internal void space that provided an apparent density lower than water. The gastro-retention times of floating assembled systems were determined in comparison with non-floating systems having the same mass and composition. In vitro the floatation of the system started immediately after immersion in water and lasted for more than 5 h. The in vivo studies confirmed that the in vitro floating ability of void configuration was maintained also in the human stomach where the system stayed for periods of time ranging from 2.5 to 5.0 h, depending on the food regimen and the sex of the subject. Reiterate eating and drinking further prolonged the stomach residence time.

This work was aimed at investigating the preparation of beta-cyclodextrin-microcrystalline cellulose pellets by means of a high-shear mixer, both in the absence or in the presence of ibuprofen as model drug. Drug loading of pellets was accomplished by means of two alternative techniques: 1) solution layering or 2) powder layering. The prepared pellets were characterised in terms of size distribution, shape factor, friability and dissolution rate. The interaction between ibuprofen and beta-cyclodextrin was monitored by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Micro Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (MicroFTIR) was applied to determine the distribution of components within each pellet on a micro scale. Pellets with narrow size distribution and containing up to about 90% of BCD were prepared using water as binder. The process yield resulted around 84 and 63% for drug-free and medicate pellets respectively. Drug loaded pellets with favourable technological and biopharmaceutical characteristics can be obtained both by powder or solution layering techniques. The latter proved to be more suitable for producing pellets with high drug contents, reduced friability and high drug dissolution rates.

The search for best performing carriers for dry powder inhalers is getting a great deal of interest to overcome the limitations posed by lactose. The aerosolization of adhesive mixtures between a carrier and a micronized drug is strongly influenced by the carrier solid-state properties. This work aimed at crystallizing kinetically stable D-mannitol polymorphs and at investigating their aerosolization performance when used in adhesive mixtures with two model drugs (salbutamol sulphate, SS, and budesonide, BUD) using a median and median/high resistance inhaler. A further goal was to assess in vitro the cytocompatibility of the produced polymer-doped mannitol polymorphs toward two lung epithelial cell lines. Kinetically stable (up to 12 months under accelerate conditions) α, and δ mannitol forms were crystallized in the presence of 2% w/w PVA and 1% w/w PVP respectively. These solid phases were compared with the β form and lactose as references. The solid-state properties of crystallized mannitol significantly affected aerosolization behavior, with the δ form affording the worst fine particle fraction with both the hydrophilic (9.3 and 6.5%) and the lipophilic (19.6 and 32%) model drugs, while α and β forms behaved in the same manner (11–13% for SS; 53–58% for BUD) and better than lactose (8 and 13% for SS; 26 and 39% for BUD). Recrystallized mannitol, but also PVA and PVP, proved to be safe excipients toward lung cell lines. We concluded that, also for mannitol, the physicochemical properties stemming from different crystal structures represent a tool for modulating carrier-drug interaction and, in turn, aerosolization performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ucuùba fat is fat obtained from a plant found in South America, mainly in Amazonian Brazil. Due to its biocompatibility and bioactivity, Ucuùba fat was used for the production of ketoconazole-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) in view of an application for the treatment of onychomycosis and other persistent fungal infections. The development and optimization of Ucuùba fat-based NLC were performed using a Box-Behnken design of experiments. The independent variables were surfactant concentration (% w/v), liquid lipids concentration (% w/v), solid lipids concentration (% w/v), while the outputs of interest were particle size, polydispersity index (PDI) and drug encapsulation efficiency (EE). Ucuùba fat-based NLC were produced and the process was optimized by the development of a predictive mathematical model. Applying the model, two formulations with pre-determined particle size, i.e., 30 and 85 nm, were produced for further evaluation. The optimized formulations were characterized and showed particle size in agreement to the predicted value, i.e., 33.6 nm and 74.6 nm, respectively. The optimized formulations were also characterized using multiple techniques in order to investigate the solid state of drug and excipients (DSC and XRD), particle morphology (TEM), drug release and interactions between the formulation components (FTIR). Furthermore, particle size, surface charge and drug loading efficiency of the formulations were studied during a one-month stability study and did not show evidence of significant modification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Glucocorticosteroids, a class of drugs widely used in the treatment of allergies, airways inflammation and inflammatory ocular diseases, are often difficult to sterilize due to their inherent sensibility to heat or irradiation induced degradation. Being often in form of suspension, obviously the final medicinal product cannot be sterilized by filtration. The effectiveness of supercritical CO2 (SC-CO2) based method for the sterilization of food and biomedical materials is well documented in the literature. Few reports are available on the sterilization of drugs especially in powder form with SC-CO2. The aim of the present work was to investigate the suitability of SC-CO2 at mild temperature for the decontamination of two model corticosteroid powders (beclometasone dipropionate and budesonide) both in dry or wet form. We found that SC treatment in wet environment reduces by at least six orders of magnitude the contamination of micronized steroidal drugs while retaining the particle size distribution. The findings of this work are of particular interest for the application in the case of aqueous suspension of steroids for aerosol therapy or ocular delivery, where the sterilization process with SC-CO2 could be carried out directly on the bulk of the final formulation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]