Eudragit-coated albumin nanospheres carrying inclusion complexes for oral administration of indomethacin

Characteristics of Microparticles Based on Resorbable Polyhydroxyalkanoates Loaded with Antibacterial and Cytostatic Drugs

The development of controlled drug delivery systems, in the form of microparticles, is an important area of experimental pharmacology. The success of the design and the quality of the obtained microparticles are determined by the method of manufacture and the properties of the material used as a carrier. The goal is to obtain and characterize microparticles depending on their method of preparation, the chemical composition of the polymer and the load of the drugs. To obtain microparticles, four types of degradable PHAs, differing in their chemical compositions, degrees of crystallinity, molecular weights and temperature characteristics, were used (poly-3-hydroxybutyrate and copolymers 3-hydroxybutyric-co-3-hydroxyvaleric acid, 3-hydroxybutyric-co-4-hydroxybutyric acid, and 3-hydroxybutyric-co-3-hydroxyhexanoic acid). The characteristics of microparticles from PHAs were studied. Good-quality particles with an average particle diameter from 0.8 to 65.0 μm, having satisfactory ζ potential values (from -18 to -50 mV), were obtained. The drug loading content, encapsulation efficiency and in vitro release were characterized. Composite microparticles based on PHAs with additives of polyethylene glycol and polylactide-co-glycolide, and loaded with ceftriaxone and 5-fluorouracil, showed antibacterial and antitumor effects in E. coli and HeLa cultures. The results indicate the high potential of PHAs for the design of modern and efficient drug delivery systems.

Enteric-Coated Strategies in Colorectal Cancer Nanoparticle Drug Delivery System

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancer diseases with the increase of cases prevalence >5% every year. Multidrug resistance mechanisms and non-localized therapy become primary problems of chemotherapy drugs for curing colorectal cancer disease. Therefore, the enteric-coated nanoparticle system has been studied and proved to be able to resolve those problems with good performance for colorectal cancer. The highlight of our review aims to summarize and discuss the enteric-coated nanoparticle drug delivery system specific for colorectal cancer disease. The main and supporting literatures were collected from published research articles of journals indexed in Scopus and PubMed databases. In the oral route of administration, Eudragit pH-sensitive copolymer as a coating agent prevents the degradation of the nanoparticle system from the gastric fluid and releases drug to intestinal-colon track. Therefore, it provides a colon-specific targeting ability. Impressively, enteric-coated nanoparticles having a sustained release profile significantly increase the cytotoxic effect of chemotherapeutic drugs and achieve cell-specific target delivery. The enteric-coated nanoparticle drug delivery system represents an excellent modification to improve the effectiveness and performance of anticancer drugs for colorectal cancer disease in terms of the oral route of administration.

Preparation and Characterization of Resveratrol Loaded Pectin/Alginate Blend Gastro-Resistant Microparticles

Background: The use of resveratrol as a dietary supplement is limited because it is easily oxidized and, after oral ingestion, it is metabolized into enterocytes and hepatocytes. Thus, new formulations are needed in order to improve its oral bioavailability. Objective: The objective of this study was to develop and characterize a gastro-resistant formulation of resveratrol for oral administration as a dietary supplement. Method: Resveratrol was encapsulated in Eudragit-coated pectin-alginate microparticles. Results: The microparticle size was about 1450 µm, with an encapsulation efficiency of 41.72% ± 1.92%. The dissolution assay conducted, as specified in the European Pharmacopoeia for delayed-release dosage forms, revealed that our microparticles were gastro-resistant, because the resveratrol percentage released from microparticles in acid medium was less than 10%. In addition, the high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method developed for resveratrol content quantification in the microparticles was validated according to International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) Q2 (R1) guidelines. Finally, the biological activity of resveratrol was investigated in 3T3-L1 mature adipocytes, concluding that the encapsulation process does not affect the activity of resveratrol. Conclusion: In summary, the gastro-resistant microparticles developed could represent a suitable method of including resveratrol in dietary supplements and in functional foods used in obesity therapy.

Advantages and challenges of the spray-drying technology for the production of pure drug particles and drug-loaded polymeric carriers

Spray-drying is a rapid, continuous, cost-effective, reproducible and scalable process for the production of dry powders from a fluid material by atomization through an atomizer into a hot drying gas medium, usually air. Often spray-drying is considered only a dehydration process, though it also can be used for the encapsulation of hydrophilic and hydrophobic active compounds within different carriers without substantial thermal degradation, even of heat-sensitive substances due to fast drying (seconds or milliseconds) and relatively short exposure time to heat. The solid particles obtained present relatively narrow size distribution at the submicron-to-micron scale. Generally, the yield% of spray-drying at laboratory scale with conventional spray-dryers is not optimal (20-70%) due to the loss of product in the walls of the drying chamber and the low capacity of the cyclone to separate fine particles (<2 μm). Aiming to overcome this crucial drawback in early development stages, new devices that enable the production of submicron particles with high yield, even for small sample amounts, have been introduced into the market. This review describes the most outstanding advantages and challenges of the spray-drying method for the production of pure drug particles and drug-loaded polymeric particles and discusses the potential of this technique and the more advanced equipment to pave the way toward reproducible and scalable processes that are critical to the bench-to-bedside translation of innovative pharmaceutical products.