Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of glimepiride and pioglitazone in binary mixture and combined dosage form using chemometric-assisted techniques

Earth-friendly micellar UPLC technique for determination of four hypoglycemic drugs in different pharmaceutical dosage forms and spiked human plasma

A novel, sensitive, and green micellar UPLC method was proposed and validated for the simultaneous determination of four hypoglycemic agents used in type II diabetes mellitus treatment namely, pioglitazone, alogliptin, glimepiride, and vildagliptin. The developed UPLC method was successfully applied for quantitative analysis of these drugs in bulk, in pharmaceutical formulations, and in spiked human plasma. Chromatographic separation was carried out on a Kinetex® 1.7 μm XB-C18 100 Å (50 × 2.1 mm) column, using a degassed and filtered mixture of (0.1 M SDS- 0.3% triethyl amine- 0.1% phosphoric acid (pH 6)) and n-propanol (85:15 v/v), at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. The experimental conditions of the suggested method were well investigated and optimized. The newly developed micellar UPLC method is capable of determining different dosage forms at the same time with the same solvents, saving time and effort. The method was found to be efficiently applicable in spiked human plasma and could be extended to study the pharmacokinetics of the cited drugs in real human plasma samples. The greenness of the developed method was evaluated by applying the Eco-scale scoring tool, which verified the excellent greenness of the analytical method.

Spectrophotometric methods for determination of glimepiride and pioglitazone hydrochloride mixture and application in their pharmaceutical formulation

Simple, accurate, and precise four spectrophotometric methods were developed and validated for simultaneous determination of glimepiride and pioglitazone hydrochloride in their pharmaceutical formulation. The first spectrophotometric method was the dual-wavelength which determined glimepiride at 219.0 and 228.0 nm and pioglitazone hydrochloride at 268.0 nm. The second one is the first derivative of ratio spectra (DD1) spectrophotometry in which the peak amplitudes were used at 238.0 nm and 268.0 nm for glimepiride and pioglitazone hydrochloride, respectively. The third method is ratio subtraction in which glimepiride was determined at 228.0 nm in the presence of pioglitazone hydrochloride which was determined by extended ratio subtraction at 268.0 nm. The fourth method was the ratio difference to determine glimepiride and pioglitazone hydrochloride. Beer's law was confirmed in the concentration range 2.50-15.00 µg mL-1, and 10.00-50.00 µg mL-1 for glimepiride and pioglitazone respectively for the four methods. The proposed methods were used to determine both drugs in their pure powdered form with mean percentage recoveries of 99.91 ± 1.117% for glimepiride and 99.76 ± 0.911% for pioglitazone hydrochloride in method (A). In method (B), the mean percentage recoveries were 100.12 ± 0.89% for glimepiride and 100.02 ± 1.06% for pioglitazone hydrochloride. In method (C) glimepiride was 100.01 ± 0.592% and 99.85 ± 0.845% for pioglitazone hydrochloride by extended ratio subtraction. And finally, in method (D) the mean percentage recoveries were 100.66 ± 0.670% for glimepiride and 99.92 ± 0.988% for pioglitazone hydrochloride. The developed methods were successfully applied for the determination of glimepiride and pioglitazone hydrochloride in pure powder and dosage form. The suggested methods were also used to determine both compounds in laboratory-prepared mixtures. The accuracy, precision, and linearity ranges of the developed methods were determined. The results obtained were compared statistically with the official method, and there was no significant difference between the proposed methods and the official method for accuracy and precision.

Classification of heroin, methamphetamine, ketamine and their additives by attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics

Drug crime is a prominent issue of concern from pole to pole. In order to seek higher profits, drug gangs often add diluents and adulterants to the drugs to disperse drug products Analysis of these additives would be greatly conducive to determine the origin of drug products for law enforcement departments. A method using attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and chemometrics methods to classify the heroin hydrochloride, methamphetamine hydrochloride, ketamine hydrochloride and their five additives (caffeine, phenacetin, starch, glucose, and sucrose), was developed. The Baseline correction, multivariate scatter correction, standard normal variate and Savitzky-Golay algorithm were adopted to pre-process the spectral data. Several supervised pattern recognition methods including decision tree, Bayes discriminant analysis, and support vector machine were considered as algorithms of constructing classifiers. The results reveal that, repetitive and interfering data in original spectrum data could be eliminated by principal component analysis and factor analysis. F-measure, as a comprehensive evaluation index of precision rate and recall rate, was more objective than precision rate and recall rate to reflect the ability of model to distinguish samples. It should be used as one of the indicators to evaluate the model. The CHAID classification tree could be identified as priorities in the decision tree model, while the linear kernel could be considered as the optimal kernel in the support vector machine model. The classification ability of three hydrochloride mixtures based on Bayes discriminant analysis was better than that of another models. Bayes discriminant analysis model was the more useful and practical method for classifying the target drugs of abuse than that of decision trees and support vector machine. The designed approach represents a potentially simple, non-destructive, and rapid method of classifying hydrochloride mixtures.

Comparative Study of Different Derivative Spectrophotometric Techniques for the Analysis and Separation of Metformin, Empagliflozin, and Glimepiride

Background:

In some cases, lifestyle changes are not enough to keep type 2 diabetes under control, so there are several medications that may help. Metformin can lower your blood sugar levels, Glimepiride makes more insulin, whereas Empagliflozin prevents the kidneys from reabsorbing sugar into the blood and sending it out in the urine.

Methods:

Mean centering, double divisor, ratio spectra-zero crossing, and successive derivative were applied for the estimation of metformin, empagliflozin, and glimepiride respectively, in their prepared laboratory mixtures and in pharmaceutical tablets, without prior chemical separation. The absorption spectra of the mentioned drugs were recorded in the range of 200-400nm.

Results:

These methods were linear over concentration ranges of 1.0-10, 2.5-30, and 1.0-10 μgmL-1 of metformin, empagliflozin, and glimepiride respectively. Mean centering for metformin was measured at 234 and 248 nm, while empagliflozin and glimepiride had amplitude values at 276 and 262 nm, respectively. The derivative of double divisor was measured at 234, 278, and 288 nm for metformin, empagliflozin and glimepiride, respectively. The ratio of spectra-zero crossing was quantified at amplitude values of the analytical signal at 234 and 274 nm for metformin and empagliflozin, respectively, whereas glimepiride was determined at 242 and 286 nm. The successive ratio of metformin, empagliflozin, and glimepiride was determined at 284, 242, and 266 nm, respectively.

Conclusion:

The methods are validated according to the ICH guidelines where accuracy, precision and repeatability are found to be within the acceptable limit. The methods were studied and optimized. Upon validation linearity, precision, accuracy, LOD, LOQ and selectivity were proved to be operative for the analysis of specified drugs in pharmaceutical dosage configuration. Statistical illustration was done between the suggested methods with the reported methods with consideration to accuracy and precision. No significant difference was found by student’s t-test, F-test and one-way ANOVA.

Mean centering-triple divisor and ratio derivative-zero crossing for simultaneous determination of some diabetes drugs in their quaternary mixture with severely overlapping spectra

Two ratio derivative spectrophotometric methods were performed for the simultaneous analysis of metformin hydrochloride, empagliflozine, linagliptin, and pioglitazone hydrochloride in their synthetic mixtures without prior chemical separation. The drugs are approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Despite the various advances in the management of diabetes, it remains to be the major cause of disability and morbidity, including blindness, amputation, heart disease, peripheral neuropathy, and kidney disease. These techniques consisted of several steps using ratio and derivative spectra. The absorption spectra of the mentioned drugs were recorded in the range of 200-350 nm, which have the concentration ranges of 1.0-10, 2.5-30, 5.0-40, and 2.5-30 μg mL^-1 for metformin hydrochloride, empagliflozine, linagliptin, and pioglitazone hydrochloride, respectively, using zero-order spectra. The mean centring of ratio spectra combined with triple divisor were measured at the amplitude values 242, 256, 272 and 296 nm for metformin hydrochloride, empagliflozine, linagliptin and pioglitazone hydrochloride, respectively; the derivative ratio spectra-zero crossing quantifies the amplitude value of the analytical signal at 234, 244, 260 and 280 nm for metformin hydrochloride, empagliflozine, linagliptin and pioglitazone hydrochloride, respectively. The method was validated according to the ICH guidelines, accuracy, precision and repeatability were found to be within the acceptable limits. Finally, statistical comparisons between the proposed methods and with the reported methods with respect to accuracy and precision show that no significant difference was found by using Student's t-test, the F-test and one-way ANOVA.

Comparative Study of Ex Vivo Transmucosal Permeation of Pioglitazone Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease

Pioglitazone has been reported in the literature to have a substantial role in the improvement of overall cognition in a mouse model. With this in mind, the aim of this study was to determine the most efficacious route for the administration of Pioglitazone nanoparticles (PGZ-NPs) in order to promote drug delivery to the brain for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. PGZ-loaded NPs were developed by the solvent displacement method. Parameters such as mean size, polydispersity index, zeta potential, encapsulation efficacy, rheological behavior, and short-term stability were evaluated. Ex vivo permeation studies were then carried out using buccal, sublingual, nasal, and intestinal mucosa. PGZ-NPs with a size around of 160 nm showed high permeability in all mucosae. However, the permeation and prediction parameters revealed that lag-time and vehicle/tissue partition coefficient of nasal mucosa were significantly lower than other studied mucosae, while the diffusion coefficient and theoretical steady-state plasma concentration of the drug were higher, providing biopharmaceutical results that reveal more favorable PGZ permeation through the nasal mucosa. The results suggest that nasal mucosa represents an attractive and non-invasive pathway for PGZ-NPs administration to the brain since the drug permeation was demonstrated to be more favorable in this tissue.

Human Skin Permeation Studies with PPARγ Agonist to Improve Its Permeability and Efficacy in Inflammatory Processes

Rosacea is the most common inflammatory skin disease. It is characterized by erythema, inflammatory papules and pustules, visible blood vessels, and telangiectasia. The current treatment has limitations and unsatisfactory results. Pioglitazone (PGZ) is an agonist of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), a nuclear receptor that regulates important cellular functions, including inflammatory responses. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the permeation of PGZ with a selection of penetration enhancers and to analyze its effectiveness for treating rosacea. The high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was validated for the quantitative determination of PGZ. Ex vivo permeation experiments were realized in Franz diffusion cells using human skin, in which PGZ with different penetration enhancers were assayed. The results showed that the limonene was the most effective penetration enhancer that promotes the permeation of PGZ through the skin. The cytotoxicity studies and the Draize test detected cell viability and the absence of skin irritation, respectively. The determination of the skin color using a skin colorimetric probe and the results of histopathological studies confirmed the ability of PGZ-limonene to reduce erythema and vasodilation. This study suggests new pharmacological indications of PGZ and its possible application in the treatment of skin diseases, namely rosacea.