Determining the Best Poloxamer Carrier for Thiocolchicoside Solid Dispersions

Chemopreventive effects of chitosan nanogel with thiocolchicoside and lauric acid in chemically induced oral carcinogenesis, in a rodent model

There is always a quest for newer, more effective chemopreventive agents to prevent and manage oral cancer. A novel nanogel prepared using thiocolchicoside, lauric acid, and chitosan showed promising anticancer activity in KB-1 cell lines. The current manuscript aims to investigate the chemopreventive activity of chitosan nanogel with thiocolchicoside and lauric acid in chemically induced oral carcinogenesis using Wistar rats. Forty-six male Wistar rats were divided into three different groups: group I (control group), group II (cancer induction group), and group III (cancer induction with a chemopreventive agent). Male Wistar rats were given 20 μl/ml 4NQO solutions daily in their drinking water. One group received a daily oral application of CTL nanogel and carcinogen in drinking water. After the 23-week carcinogen treatment, the rats were euthanized; the tongues of the rats were dissected and histopathologically examined. Additionally, RT-PCR was employed to assess the gene expression of various signaling molecules involved in cancer progression like Erk1/2, β-catenin, Ki-67, Cyclin D1, TNF-α, NFκB, COX-2, and RAC1. Wistar rats developed white lesions and growth in the tongue in the cancer induction group. At the same time, the incidence and size of tumors were significantly less in the CTL nanogel-treated group. There was a significant increase in p53, Caspase-3, and Bax expression levels, while Bcl-2 showed a decreased expression in the CTL nanogel-treated group. There was also a significant decrease in the expression of EGFR and VEGFR signaling molecules in the CTL nanogel-treated group (p < 0.05 level). CTL nanogel shows potent chemopreventive efficiency in reducing the occurrence and severity of 4NQO-induced oral cancer in Wistar rats, marking it a promising candidate for further investigation in cancer prevention strategies.

Solid Dispersions Obtained by Ball Milling as Delivery Platform of Etodolac, a Model Poorly Soluble Drug

Poor water solubility of drugs is a limiting factor for their bioavailability and pharmacological activity. Many approaches are known to improve drug solubility, and among them, the physical method, solid dispersions (SDs), is applied. SDs are physical mixtures of a drug and a carrier, sometimes with the addition of a surfactant, which can be obtained by milling, cryomilling, spray-drying, or lyophilization processes. In this study, solid dispersions with etodolac (ETD-SDs) were prepared by the milling method using different carriers, such as hypromellose, polyvinylpyrrolidone, copovidone, urea, and mannitol. Solubility studies, dissolution tests, morphological assessment, thermal analysis, and FTIR imaging were applied to evaluate the SD properties. It was shown that the ball-milling process can be applied to obtain SDs with ETD. All designed ETD-SDs were characterized by higher water solubility and a faster dissolution rate compared to unprocessed ETD. SDs with amorphous carriers (HPMC, PVP, and PVP/VA) provided greater ETD solubility than dispersions with crystalline features (urea and mannitol). FTIR spectra confirmed the compatibility of ETD with tested carriers.

Curcumin-loaded soluplus® based ternary solid dispersions with enhanced solubility, dissolution and antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory activities

Amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) has emerged to be an outstanding strategy among multiple options available for improving solubility and consequently biological activity. Interestingly several binary SD systems continue to exhibit insufficient solubility over time. Therefore, the goal of current research was to design ternary amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) of hydrophobic model drug curcumin (CUR) to enhance the solubility and dissolution rate in turn, presenting enhanced anti-bacterial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. For this purpose several ternary solid dispersions (TSDs) consisting of Soluplus®, Syloid® XDP 3150, Syloid® 244 and Poloxamer® 188 in combination with HPMC E5 (binary carrier) were prepared using solvent evaporation method. Both solubility and dissolution testing of prepared solid dispersion were performed to determine the increase in solubility and dissolution. Solid state investigation was carried out utilizing infrared spectroscopy, also known as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM),Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).Optimized formulations were also tested for their biological effectiveness including anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. Amid all Ternary formulations F3 entailing 20 % soluplus® remarkably improved the solubility (186 μg/ml ± 3.95) and consequently dissolution (91 % ± 3.89 %) of curcumin by 3100 and 9 fold respectively. These finding were also supported by FTIR, SEM, XRD and DSC. In-vitro antibacterial investigation of F3 also demonstrated significant improvement in antibacterial activity against both gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus) and gram negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli) bacteria. Among all the tested strains Staphylococcus aureus was found to be most susceptible with a zone of inhibition of 24 mm ± 2.87. Antioxidant activity of F3 was also notably enhanced (93 % ± 5.30) in contrast to CUR (69 % ± 4.79). In vitro anti-inflammatory assessment also exhibited that F3 markedly protected BSA (bovine serum albumin) from denaturation with percent BSA inhibition of 80 % ± 3.16 in comparison to CUR (49 % ± 2.91). Hence, F3 could be an effective solid dispersion system for the delivery of model hydrophobic drug curcumin.

Formulation, characterization and and evaluation of aloe-emodin-loaded solid dispersions for dissolution enhancement

OBJECTIVE

To prepare aloe-emodin solid dispersion (AE-SD) and determine the metabolic process of AE and AE-SD in vivo.

METHODS

AE-SD was prepared viasolvent evaporation or solvent melting using PEG-6000 and PVP-K30 as carriers. Thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to identify the physical state of AE-SD. Optimal prescriptions were screened viathe dissolution degree determination method. Using Phoenix software, AE suspension and AE-SD were subjected to a pharmacokinetic comparison study analyzing the alteration of behavior in vivo after AE was prepared as a solid dispersion. Acute toxicity was assessed in mice, and the physiological toxicity was used as the determination criterion for toxicity.

RESULTS

AE-SD showed that AE existed in the carrier in an amorphous state. Compared with polyethylene glycol, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) inhibited AE crystallization, causing the drug to transform from a dense crystalline state to an amorphous form and increasing the degree of drug dispersion. Therefore, it was more suitable as a carrier material for AE-SD. The addition of poloxamer (POL) was more beneficial to the stability of solid dispersions and could reduce the amount of PVP. The dissolution test confirmed that the optimal ratio of AE to the composite vector AE-PVP-POL was 1：2：2, and its dissolution effect was also optimal. Based on the pharmacokinetic comparison, the drug absorption was faster and quickly reached the peak of blood drug concentration in AE-SD compared to AE, the Cmax of AE-SD was greater than that of AE, and t1/2 and mean residence time of AE-SD were less than AE. The results showed that the drug metabolism in AE-SD was better, and the residence time was shorter. The toxicology study showed that both AE and AE-SD had no toxicity.

CONCLUSION

This paper established that the solubility of the drug could be increased after preparing a solid dispersion, as demonstrated by in vitro dissolution experiments. In vivo pharmacokinetics studies confirmed that AE-SD could improve the bioavailability of AE in vivo, providing a new concept for the research and development of AE preparations.

A possible alternative to Opiorphin and its stable analogues for treating fibromyalgia pain: A clinical hypothesis

The work aimed to explore the clinical hypothesis on the possible alternative to Opiorphin and its stable analogues for treating fibromyalgia pain. Fibromyalgia is a condition characterized by chronic pain triggered by an interplay of biological and psychosocial variables, although the exact pathogenesis is still controversial. Standard therapy for low threshold tender point pain includes NSAIDs and opioid analgesics, both of which have serious adverse profiles after long-term exposure, highlighting the need for an intermediate compound capable of bridging the gap between NSAIDs and opioid analgesics. Opiorphin is an anti-nociceptive modulator which inhibits the enzyme responsible for the degradation of natural endogenous opioid neuropeptides. This paper hypothesizes and concludes that Opiorphin and its stable analogues (Sialorphine, STR-324) can be an alternative for the treatment of chronic long-standing low-threshold tender point pain associated with fibromyalgia.

Optimized Rapid Disintegrating Tablets produced through Central Composite Design

The work is aimed at producing fast disintegrating diclofenac potassium tablets to relieve pain and tenderness by applying a quality-by-design approach. Diclofenac potassium (DP) is of BCS class II and has issues of minimal oral bioavailability. This can be overcome by complexing DP with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and sodium starch glycolate (SSG). The attempt was to optimize DP tablets by applying central composite design (CCD). Nine different DP tablet formulations were created and assessed for physicochemical constraints, disintegration time and drug dissolution at the end of 30 min. The separate and mutual consequences of β-CD and SSG on the disintegration time of DP tablets are highly significant (P<0.01). The DP tablets made with β-CD in 150 mg disintegrated rapidly within 39±2 sec, and gave very rapid drug dissolution (96.35±2.36%) at the end of 30 min. These DP tablets (F-8) contain β-CD (150 mg) and SSG at 32.07 mg. The intermittent levels of β-CD and higher levels of SSG gave good dissolution of DP tablets. The polynomial equation linking the response, i.e. disintegration time in sec (Y1) and the levels of β-CD (A) and SSG (B) based on the pragmatic results, is Y1=45-3.14277A- 2.46599B-1.25AB+1.75A2-0.5B2. In contrast, the DP release at the end of 30 min was expressed as Y2 = 88.57 + 4.09333A + 3.27837B + 1.2525AB - 2A2 + 0.8875B2. The study concludes that SSG decreases the disintegration time with its concentration and β-CD concentration ingresses the drug release from the formulation.