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Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) act mainly via inhibition of prostaglandins synthesis by inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX) isoenzymes (COX-1 and COX-2). Selective COX-2 inhibitors which are also known as coxibs provide the main therapeutic effects of NSAIDs. Zarghi et al. reported 6-benzoyl-2-(4-(methylsulfonyl) phenyl) quinoline-4-carboxylic acid (AZGH101) as a novel derivative of ketoprofen with improved selectivity index (COX-1/COX-2 inhibitory potency) in comparison with ketoprofen. In this study, the log P and stability of AZGH101 were evaluated and the pharmacokinetic characteristics of this compound were investigated following intravenous (10 mg/kg), and oral administration (20 mg/kg), to Wistar rats. As the data demonstrated, the AZGH101was classified as lipid soluble compound and had suitable stability according to forced degradation protocol ICH guideline for new drug substance. This derivative absorbs, distributes, and eliminates similar in both sexes. The AUC 0-∞, absolute bioavailability, Cl, and Vd were not different in both sexes. According to the obtained data, the AZGH101 does not have a sex dependent pharmacokinetic in Wistar rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Coxibs such as celecoxib, rofecoxib, and valdecoxib are introduced as selective COX-2 inhibitors to the market. It has been reported that inhibition of COX-2 beside traditional effects of NSAIDs, reduces the risk of colorectal, breast and lung cancers and also slow the progress of Alzheimer's disease. Zarghi et al. reported 8-benzoyl-2-(4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl)quinoline- 4-carboxylic acid (AZGH 102) as a novel compound with similar IC50 to celecoxib besides improved selectivity index (COX-1/COX-2 inhibitory potency) in comparison with celecoxib. In this study, the physicochemical properties of AZGH 102 such as solubility, log P, and stability were evaluated and the pharmacokinetic characteristics of this compound following intravenous (10 mg/Kg), and oral administration (20 mg/Kg), to male and female Wistar rats were investigated. As the data demonstrated, the AZGH 102 classified as lipophil compound and had suitable stability. This derivative absorbs and distributes faster in female than in male. The AUC 0-∞, absolute bioavailability, Cl and Vd were different in both sexes. According to the obtained data, the AZGH 102 has a sex dependent pharmacokinetic in Wistar rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rapid, sensitive and reproducible HPLC method was developed and validated for the analysis of amifostine (AMF) and/or its metabolite, WR-1065 in human plasma. The method involves the alkylation of free sulfydryl group with iodoacetic acid followed by derivatization of the drug and its metabolite with o-phthaldialdehyde (OPA) and UVdetection at 340 nm. The derivatized AMF and WR-1065 were eluted in less than 11 min, and in the case of the metabolite with no interferences from the endogenous plasma peaks. Cystein was used as the internal standard. Analysis was carried out on a Eurosphere Performance (RP-18e, 100 × 4.6 mm) analytical column. The mobile phase was a mixture of methanol and phosphate buffer 0.03 M pH = 2.7 at a ratio of 40: 60v/v, respectively, with a flow rate of 1.5 mLmin-1. Limit of detection was 0.5 µgmL-1. The method involved a simple extraction procedure for AMF and/or its metabolite and analytical recovery was 90 ± 0.9%.The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range of 1-200 µgmL-1. The coefficients of variation for intra-day and inter-day assays were less than 10%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occurrence of deoxynivalenol (DON) in retail foods in Tehran (Iran) was determined using high-performance liquid chromatography technique and immunoaffinity column as the clean-up step. A method was validated for analysis of DON in rice, bread, puffed corn snack and wheat flour. The average recoveries and precision (RSD) for DON in different foods ranged 84.2-93.1% and 2.9-12.0%, respectively. A survey of DON was performed on the 72 samples of rice, bread, puffed corn snack, and wheat flour collected from Tehran retail market. The data showed that 10 samples (13.9%) out of 72 samples were contaminated with DON with the maximum level of 368.7 ng/g. The samples had contamination level lower than the maximum tolerated level of DON in foods in Iran. The total intake of DON was under the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake set for DON by the JECFA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to extract the Salvia officinalis leaves, and to formulate the lozenge tablets in order to investigate a profitable dosage form. Methods: Lozenge tablets were prepared using wet granulation. The tablets also were evaluated for the physicochemical properties such as hardness, friability, weigh uniformity, thickness and disintegration time. Results: The selected formulation tablets containing 2.5% (w/w) gelatin as a binder and 0.1 ml of Salvia officinalis extract showed their physicochemical properties in the acceptable limits. Furthermore, palatability and the taste of the tablets were found desirable after testing by human volunteers. Salvia officinalis lozenge tablets were studied under accelerated stability conditions, and based on the stability test results it is suggested to package the tablets as single unit dosage form to drug content constancy. Conclusion: The results clearly indicate that the prepared lozenge tablets can be a good alternative for traditional forms of sage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clarithromycin (CLA), a broad-spectrum macrolide, is a poorly soluble drug with dissolution rate limited absorption. The aim of this investigation was to prepare CLA nanoparticles from a ternary ground mixture in the presence of sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as co-grinding water-soluble compounds, in order to improve the drug dissolution rate. Different weight ratios of CLA: SLS: PVP were ground in a dry process by planetary ball mill using different grinding ball size. Following the dissolution rate study, physical properties of the best dissolved co-ground formulation was studied. The accelerated stability studies were also conducted on the co-ground formulation. The results revealed that the dissolution rate of ternary ground mixtures was much higher than that of the intact drug (p < 0.001). Decreasing the grinding ball size and weight with the same rotation speed resulted in particles with decreased dissolution. On the other hand, increasing the PVP concentration in the formulations reduced the drug dissolution. Dissolution efficiencies (DE10 and DE30) for the best dissolved formulation, which consisted of the equal ratio of each co-ground component, were 8.7 and 5 folds higher than the untreated CLA, respectively. This formulation formed nanocrystals with enhanced solubility after dispersing in water. X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry and infrared spectrophotometry confirmed no chemical interaction and phase transition during the process. Accelerated stability studies confirmed that the co-ground mixture almost remained unchanged in terms of dissolution rate, drug assay and particle size after exposing in stability conditions for three months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rapid, sensitive and reproducible HPLC method using amperometric detector was developed and validated for the analysis of clarithromycin in human plasma. The separation was achieved on a monolithic silica column (MZ- C8 125×4.0 mm) using acetonitrilemethanol- potassium dihydrogen phosphate buffer (40:6:54,v/v), with pH of 7.5, as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.5 mL/min. The assay enables the measurement of clarithromycin for therapeutic drug monitoring with a minimum quantification limit of 20 ng/mL. The method involves simple, protein precipitation procedure and analytical recovery was complete. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range of 0.1-6 μg/mL. The coefficients of variation for inter-day and intra-day assay were found to be less than 6%. This method was used in bioequivalency and pharmacokinetic studies of the test (generic) product 2 × 500 mg clarithromycin tablets, with respect to the reference product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for determination of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in foods using a monolithic column with sample clean up on an immunoaffinity column. The method was validated for analysis of AFB1 in rice, bread, puffed corn snack, wheat flour and peanut samples. The average recoveries for AFB1 in different foods ranged from 94.4 to 102.5% with the coefficient of variation lower than 10% for all foods. Limit of detection was 0.01 ng/g. A survey of AFB1 was performed on 90 samples collected from Tehran retail market in June 2005. The results showed that none of the bread and wheat flour samples were contaminated with AFB1. The mean AFB1 levels in rice, puffed corn snack and peanut samples were 4.17, 0.11, and 1.97 ng/g, respectively. The level of contamination of 3 samples (one rice sample and two peanuts samples) to AFB1 was found to be higher than 5 ng/g. Although all food samples had mean concentration of AFB1 below the maximum tolerated level in Iran, the mean intake of AFB1 from rice was estimated 3.49 times higher than the guidance value of 1 ng AFB1/Kg body weight/day. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to monitor AFB1 in foods, especially in rice, in Iran. This is the first study on exposure assessment of Iranian population to AFB1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to design and optimize a prolonged release matrix formulation of pyridostigmine bromide, an effective drug in myasthenia gravis and poisoning with nerve gas, using hydrophilic - hydrophobic polymers via D-optimal experimental design. HPMC and carnauba wax as retarding agents as well as tricalcium phosphate were used in matrix formulation and considered as independent variables. Tablets were prepared by wet granulation technique and the percentage of drug released at 1 (Y1), 4 (Y2) and 8 (Y3) hours were considered as dependent variables (responses) in this investigation. These experimental responses were best fitted for the cubic, cubic and linear models, respectively. The optimal formulation obtained in this study, consisted of 12.8 % HPMC, 24.4 % carnauba wax and 26.7 % tricalcium phosphate, had a suitable prolonged release behavior followed by Higuchi model in which observed and predicted values were very close. The study revealed that D-optimal design could facilitate the optimization of prolonged release matrix tablet containing pyridostigmine bromide. Accelerated stability studies confirmed that the optimized formulation remains unchanged after exposing in stability conditions for six months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the pharmaceutical industry a continuing need for chiral resolution of drugs for various purposes and in diverse matrices exist. For these reasons, analysts may require a number of different separation systems capable of resolving a given pair of enantiomers. Highly sulfated cyclodextrins (HS-CDs) represent a relatively new class of chiral selectors in capillary electrophoresis (CE). In this investigation the use of HS-CDs as chiral selectors in CE for enantioseparation of tramadol, a highly potent analgesic, as the model drug and the influence of the type of selector and its concentration on enantiomeric resolution were studied. All of the available HSCDs (α,β and γ) could resolve tramadol enantiomers, but HS-γ-CD showed better resolution and a baseline resolution was achieved with this selector even at a concentration as low as 0.5% w/v. Additionally, effect of the buffer pH on the enantioresolution was studied. At low pH buffers, in which electroosmotic flow is low in CE, the negatively charged selector prevented the cationic tramadol to migrate out of the capillary even after a long analysis time of 60 minutes. However, at higher pH values (pH=7 or more), the electroosmotic flow is high enough to drag drug-selector complex toward the detector and a reasonable of the enantiomers of the drug was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: One of the most critical public health issues in psychiatric and medical concerns is methamphetamine (METH) dependence. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate caffeine (Rescuecaf) effectiveness in reducing craving and relapse prevention in METH dependence. Methods: In this double-blind, randomized clinical trial, 15 participants in the experimental group received 4.5 mg/kg of caffeine (with an average daily dose of 300 mg for each participant for three months), and 15 patients with METH use disorder were treated with the placebo. Addiction severity was measured daily using the addiction intensity index (ASI). The Amphetamine Withdrawal Questionnaire (AWQ), Amphetamine Selective Severity Assessment (ASSA), and Drug Complications Questionnaire were used for data collection. Statistical analysis was carried out on weeks 1, 6, and 12 after the intervention and between caffeineand placebo-treated patients based on repeated measures and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) at the 95% confidence interval. Results: There was a significant difference between the experimental and placebo groups in METH-dependency and deprivation symptoms. In addition, in the experimental group, there was a significant difference between weeks 1, 6, and 12 (P > 0.05), but no significant difference was found between weeks 6 and 12. No significant side effects were seen during caffeine consumption during the second, fourth, and sixth weeks. Conclusions: Caffeine is an efficient, new drug capable of managing amphetamine withdrawal syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rapid, sensitive and reproducible HPLC method was developed and validated for the analysis of memantine in human plasma after derivatization with o-phthaldialdehyde (OPA) and fluorescence detection. Amantadine was used as internal standard. The derivatized memantine and amantadine were eluted in less than 10 min with no interference from endogenous plasma peaks. The analysis was carried out on a monolithic silica column (Chromolith Performance RP-18e, 100×4.6 mm). The mobile phase was composed of a mixture of acetonitrile and 0.025 M phosphate buffer (50:50, v/v, pH=4.6) with a flow rate of 2.5 mLmin-1. The excitation and emission wavelengths were set at 335 nm and 440 nm respectively. The assay enables the measurement of memantine for therapeutic drug monitoring with a lower quantification limit of 2 ngmL-1. The method involves simple extraction procedure and analytical recovery was 82.8±0.9%. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range 2-80 ngmL-1. The coefficients of variation for inter-day and intra-day assay were found to be less than 8%. The method was successfully applied to pharmacokinetic studies in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficacy of methotrexate (MTX) as an antimetabolite chemotherapeutic agent highly depends on its blood circulation half-life. In our previous study, different conjugates of MTX (MTX-PEG) were synthesized, their physicochemical properties were investigated and MTX-PEG5000 was finally selected as optimum drug-conjugate for further investigations. In the current work, first the stability of MTX-PEG5000 was studied at 37 °C and the results indicated its high stability in plasma (T 1/2 = 144 h) and a relatively rapid degradation in tissue homogenate (T 1/2 = 24 h). The study of protein binding pointed out that the conjugate was highly protein-bound (95%). The results of pharmacokinetic studies in mice indicated that MTX-PEG5000 had longer plasma distribution and elimination half-lives compared to free MTX (T 1/2 α 9.16 min for MTX-PEG5000 versus 2.45 min for MTX and T 1/2 β 88.44 for MTX-PEG5000 versus 24.33 min for MTX). Pharmacokinetic parameters also showed higher area under the curve (AUC) of conjugate compared to parent drug (12.33 mg.mL -1 .min for MTX-PEG5000 versus 2.64 mg.mL -1 .min for MTX). The biodistribution studies demonstrated that MTX-PEG5000 did not highly accumulate in liver and intestine and had a mild and balanced distribution to other organs. Also, the conjugate was measurable in tissues up to 48 h after injection and was detected in the brain, suggesting the possibility of delivering drug to brain tumors.

A rapid, sensitive and reproducible HPLC method was developed and validated for the analysis of adefovir (CAS 106941-25-7) in human plasma. The separation was achieved on a monolithic silica column (Chromolith Performance RP-18e, 100 x 4.6 mm) using acetonitrile-ammonium dihydrogen phosphate buffer (6:94, v/v), pH 5.2, as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.5 ml min(-1). The wavelength was set at 260 nm. The assay enables the measurement of adefovir for therapeutic drug monitoring with a minimum quantification limit of 1 ng ml(-1). The method involves a simple protein precipitation procedure. Analytical recovery was complete. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range 1-40 ng ml(-1). The coefficients of variation for inter-day and intra-day assay were found to be less than 5%. The method was applied to the determination of adefovir in plasma from 12 subjects dosed with adefovir 2 x 10 mg tablets and pharmacokinetic parameters were evaluated.

This study is aimed to design and optimize a sublingual tablet formulation of physostigmine salicylate, an effective drug in Alzheimer's disease and nerve gas poisoning, by means of the D-optimal experimental design methodology. Polyvinyl pyrrolidone, lactose, starch 1500 and sodium starch glycolate were used in the formulations as independent variables. Tablets were prepared by the direct compression method and evaluated for their physical properties (tablet hardness, disintegration time and friability), which were regarded as responses in a D-optimal design. Due to the significance of the special cubic model for data fitted, compared to other models, it was used to examine the obtained results. Response surface plots were plotted to study the tablet properties and the optimized overlay plot was generated based on the results and targets considered for the responses. After verification of the optimum checkpoint formulations, an optimized formulation was chosen due to its desirable physical properties and closely observed and predicted values. Drug assay, content uniformity of the dosage unit, drug dissolution and accelerated stability studies were done on the optimum formulation as further experiments. All the obtained results complied with the requirements of a sublingual tablet formulation.