In Vitro Lipolysis and Intestinal Transport of β-Arteether-Loaded Lipid-Based Drug Delivery Systems

Nano-facilitated drug delivery strategies in the treatment of plasmodium infection

Malaria, one of the major infectious disease-causing sizeable morbidity, mortality and economic loss worldwide. The main drawback for the failure to eradicate malaria is the spread of multiple drug resistance to the majority of currently available chemotherapy. At present nanotechnology offers an advanced opportunity in the delivery of drugs and vaccines to the desired targeted site in the body following oral and systemic administration. It confers the major advantages like improving drug pharmacokinetic profiles, reduce dose frequency and reduction in drug toxicity. Hence, Nano-based drug delivery system can provide a promising prospect in the way of malaria treatment. This paper is a review of recent researches highlighting includes nanocarriers loaded antimalarial drugs for better therapeutic efficacy and future perspective in the treatment of malaria.

Strategic approach to developing a self-microemulsifying drug delivery system to enhance antiplatelet activity and bioavailability of ticagrelor

Background

Ticagrelor (TCG) is used to inhibit platelet aggregation in patients with acute coronary syndrome, but its poor solubility and low bioavailability limit its in vivo efficacy. The purpose of this study was to manufacture an optimized TCG-loaded self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) to enhance the oral bioavailability and antiplatelet activity of TCG.

Materials and methods

Solubility and emulsification tests were conducted to determine the most suitable oils, surfactants, and cosurfactants. Scheffé's mixture design was applied to optimize the percentage of each component applied in the SMEDDS formulation to achieve optimal physical characteristics, ie, high solubility of TCG in SMEDDS, small droplet size, low precipitation, and high transmittance.

Results

The optimized TCG-loaded SMEDDS (TCG-SM) formulation composed of 10.0% Capmul MCM (oil), 53.8% Cremophor EL (surfactant), and 36.2% Transcutol P (cosurfactant) significantly improving the dissolution of TCG in various media compared with TCG in Brilinta^® (commercial product). TCG-SM exhibited higher cellular uptake and permeability in Caco-2 cells than raw TCG suspension. In pharmacokinetic studies in rats, TCG-SM exhibited higher oral bioavailability with 5.7 and 6.4 times higher area under the concentration-time curve and maximum plasma concentration, respectively, than a raw TCG suspension. Antiplatelet activity studies exhibited that the TCG-SM formulation showed significantly improved inhibition of platelet aggregation compared with raw TCG at the same dose of TCG. And, a 10 mg/kg dose of raw TCG suspension and a 5 mg/kg dose of TCG-SM had a similar area under the inhibitory curve (907.0%±408.8% and 907.8%±200.5%⋅hours, respectively) for antiplatelet activity.

Conclusion

These results suggest that the developed TCG-SM could be successfully used as an efficient method to achieve the enhanced antiplatelet activity and bioavailability of TCG.

50years of oral lipid-based formulations: Provenance, progress and future perspectives

Lipid based formulations (LBF) provide well proven opportunities to enhance the oral absorption of drugs and drug candidates that sit close to, or beyond, the boundaries of Lipinski's 'rule-of-five' chemical space. Advantages in permeability, efflux and presystemic metabolism are evident; however, the primary benefit is in increases in dissolution and apparent intestinal solubility for lipophilic, poorly water soluble drugs. This review firstly details the inherent advantages of LBF, their general properties and classification, and provides a brief retrospective assessment of the development of LBF over the past fifty years. More detailed analysis of the ability of LBF to promote intestinal solubilisation, supersaturation and absorption is then provided alongside review of the methods employed to assess formulation performance. Critical review of the ability of simple dispersion and more complex in vitro digestion methods to predict formulation performance subsequently reveals marked differences in the correlative ability of in vitro tests, depending on the properties of the drug involved. Notably, for highly permeable low melting drugs e.g. fenofibrate, LBF appear to provide significant benefit in all cases, and sustained ongoing solubilisation may not be required. In other cases, and particularly for higher melting point drugs such as danazol, where re-dissolution of crystalline precipitate drug is likely to be slow, correlations with ongoing solubilisation and supersaturation are more evident. In spite of their potential benefits, one limitation to broader use of LBF is low drug solubility in the excipients employed to generate formulations. Techniques to increase drug lipophilicity and lipid solubility are therefore explored, and in particular those methods that provide for temporary enhancement including lipophilic ionic liquid and prodrug technologies. The transient nature of these lipophilicity increases enhances lipid solubility and LBF viability, but precludes enduring effects on receptor promiscuity and off target toxicity. Finally, recent efforts to generate solid LBF are briefly described as a means to circumvent the need to encapsulate in soft or hard gelatin capsules, although the latter remain popular with consumers and a proven means of LBF delivery.

Quality-by-design based development of a self-microemulsifying drug delivery system to reduce the effect of food on Nelfinavir mesylate

Poor aqueous solubility and moderate permeability of Nelfinavir mesylate (NFM) leads to high variability in absorption after oral administration. To improve the solubility and bioavailability of NFM, the self microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) was developed. For this purpose, Quality by design (QbD) approach employing D-optimal mixture design was used to prepare SMEDDS of NFM. Further, the software generated numerically optimized SMEDDS were developed by utilizing desirability function. Maisine 35-1, Tween 80, and Transcutol HP were identified as oil, surfactant, and co-surfactant that had best solubility for NFM. Ternary phase diagrams were plotted to identify the self-emulsification region. Dissolution of putative NFM in simulated fasted or fed small intestinal conditions, respectively, predicted that there is a positive food effect. However, NFM loaded SMEDDS showed absence of food effect with no significant difference in dissolution performance either in Fasted or fed state simulated intestinal fluid (FaSSIF or FeSSIF) biorelevent dissolution media. The prepared SMEDDS were thermodynamically stable with droplet size (121 nm), poly dispersity index (PDI) (0.198) and emulsification time (<1 min). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis confirmed the spherical shape of the reconstituted SMEDDS droplets. The ex vivo performance revealed 4.57 fold enhancement in the apparent permeability of NFM as compared to NFM suspension. The animal pharmacokinetic analysis in New Zealand strain rabbits indicated food effect on pure NFM suspension. However, absence of food effect and 3.5-3.6 fold enhancement in the oral bioavailability was observed when NFM was formulated into SMEDDS. Thus, it could be envisaged that development of SMEDDS formulation of NFM could be one of the best alternative to enhance oral bioavailability of NFM.

Aprepitant loaded solid preconcentrated microemulsion for enhanced bioavailability: A comparison with micronized Aprepitant

Aprepitant (APT) is a lipophilic, poorly water soluble drug with moderate permeability characteristic. Therefore, we aimed to improve solubility as well as permeability that could possibly improve oral bioavailability of APT. For this purpose, Quality by design (QbD) approach employing simplex lattice mixture design was used to prepare solid preconcentrated microemulsion (S-PCM). Further, the software generated numerically optimized S-PCM formulations were developed by utilizing desirability function. The spectral attributes (powder X-ray diffraction, ATR-FTIR, and differential scanning calorimetry) of S-PCM formulations suggested that APT was present in amorphous form. The results of droplet size (150-180 nm), zeta potential (-13 to -15 mV), poly dispersity index (PDI) (0.211-0.238) and emulsification time (<1 min), of these S-PCM formulations (SP1, SP2 and SP3) suggested spherical shape morphology (Transmission electron microscopy) with thermodynamic stability. The comparison of in vitro/ex vivo behavior of S-PCM (SP1) with micronized and non-micronized formulations of APT suggested 2-fold and 5-fold enhancement in solubility and permeability, respectively. This was further evident from pharmacokinetic studies in rabbits that showed 1.5-fold enhancement in bioavailability of S-PCM with respect to micronized APT. Thus, it could be envisaged that development of S-PCM formulation of APT is the best alternative to micronization technology based APT formulations reported earlier.

Antimalarial activity of medicinal plants from the Democratic Republic of Congo: A review

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Malaria is the most prevalent parasitic disease and the foremost cause of morbidity and mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo. For the management of this disease, a large Congolese population recourses to traditional medicinal plants. To date the efficacy and safety of many of these plants have been validated scientifically in rodent malaria models. In order to generate scientific evidence of traditional remedies used in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the management of malaria, and show the potential of Congolese plants as a major source of antimalarial drugs, this review highlights the antiplasmodial and toxicological properties of the Congolese antimalarial plants investigated during the period of 1999-2014. In doing so, a useful resource for further complementary investigations is presented. Furthermore, this review may pave the way for the research and development of several available and affordable antimalarial phytomedicines.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In order to get information on the different studies, a Google Scholar and PubMed literature search was performed using keywords (malaria, Congolese, medicinal plants, antiplasmodial/antimalarial activity, and toxicity). Data from non-indexed journals, Master and Doctoral dissertations were also collected.

RESULTS

Approximately 120 extracts and fractions obtained from Congolese medicinal plants showed pronounced or good antiplasmodial activity. A number of compounds with interesting antiplasmodial properties were also isolated and identified. Some of these compounds constituted new scaffolds for the synthesis of promising antimalarial drugs. Interestingly, most of these extracts and compounds possessed high selective activity against Plasmodium parasites compared to mammalian cells. The efficacy and safety of several plant-derived products was confirmed in mice, and a good correlation was observed between in vitro and in vivo antimalarial activity. The formulation of several plant-derived products also led to some clinical trials and license of three plant-derived drugs (Manalaria(®), Nsansiphos(®), and Quinine Pharmakina(®)).

CONCLUSION

The obtained results partly justify and support the use of various medicinal plants to treat malaria in folk medicine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Antimalarial plants used in Congolese traditional medicine represent an important source for the discovery and development of new antimalarial agents. However, in order to ensure the integration of a larger number of plant-derived products in the Congolese healthcare system, some parameters and trends should be considered in further researches, in agreement with the objectives of the "Traditional Medicine Strategy" proposed by the World Health Organization in 2013. These include evaluation of geographical and seasonal variation, investigation of reproductive biology, assessment of prophylactic antimalarial activity, evaluation of natural products as adjuvant antioxidant therapy for malaria, development of plant-based combination therapies and monitoring of herbal medicines in pharmacovigilance systems.

The role of lipid-based nano delivery systems on oral bioavailability enhancement of fenofibrate, a BCS II drug: comparison with fast-release formulations

The aim of this study was to compare various formulations solid dispersion pellets (SDP), nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) and a self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) generally accepted to be the most efficient drug delivery systems for BCS II drugs using fenofibrate (FNB) as a model drug. The size and morphology of NLCs and SMEDDS was characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Their release behaviors were investigated in medium with or without pancreatic lipase. The oral bioavailability of the various formulations was compared in beagle dogs using commercial Lipanthyl® capsules (micronized formulation) as a reference. The release of FNB from SDP was much faster than that from NLCs and SMEDDS in medium without lipase, whereas the release rate from NLCs and SMEDDS was increased after adding pancreatic lipase into the release medium. However, NLCs and SMEDDS increased the bioavailability of FNB to 705.11% and 809.10%, respectively, in comparison with Lipanthyl® capsules, although the relative bioavailability of FNB was only 366.05% after administration of SDPs. Thus, lipid-based drug delivery systems (such as NLCs and SMEDDS) may have more advantages than immediate release systems (such as SDPs and Lipanthyl® capsules).

pH-sensitive nanoparticles for colonic delivery of curcumin in inflammatory bowel disease

Nano-scaled particles have been found to preferentially accumulate in inflamed regions. Local delivery of anti-inflammatory drugs loaded in nanoparticles to the inflamed colonic site is of great interest for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treatment. Curcumin (CC) is an anti-inflammatory local agent, which presents poor ADME properties. Hence, we evaluated, both in vitro and in vivo, the local delivery of CC using pH-sensitive polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) combining both poly(lactide-co-glycolide) acid (PLGA) and a polymethacrylate polymer (Eudragit(®) S100). CC-NPs significantly enhanced CC permeation across Caco-2 cell monolayers when compared to CC in suspension. CC-NPs significantly reduced TNF-α secretion by LPS-activated macrophages (J774 cells). In vivo, CC-NPs significantly decreased neutrophil infiltration and TNF-α secretion while maintaining the colonic structure similar to the control group in a murine DSS-induced colitis model. Our results support the use of nanoparticles made of PLGA and Eudragit(®) S100 combination for CC delivery in IBD treatment.

Enhanced association of probucol with chylomicron by pharmaceutical excipients: an in vitro study

In this study, we examined the effect of pharmaceutical excipients preferred in lipid-based formulations for lymphatic delivery on in vitro association of probucol with chylomicron (CM). CM stability study was performed under the conditions of room temperature, refrigeration and deep freezing to optimize the storage condition of CM dispersion prior to CM-binding study. The mean particle size, size distribution and zeta potential value were considerably maintained for 48 h under the refrigeration condition. CM-binding study was conducted using probucol incorporated in vehicles composed of solubilizer (Transcutol HP or ethanol or propylene glycol) or surfactant (Tween-80 or Tween-20 or Cremophor ELP), and CM dispersion obtained by a density-gradient ultracentrifugation. Levels of the association of probucol with CM were largely governed by solubility of probucol in pharmaceutical excipients tested in this study, and the ability of solubilizers tested to enhance the affinity of probucol with CM was much greater than that of surfactants tested. Furthermore, the association of probucol with CM was enhanced by increasing the amount of the drug solubilized in propylene glycol or Transcutol HP. Together, the result of this CM-binding study showed that solubilizers tested in this study can increase levels of the association of probucol with CM, potentially leading to an increase in lymphatic exposure of drugs. Thus, identifying pharmaceutical excipients having better solubilizing ability would be advantageous for enhanced lymphatic delivery.

Dextran-protamine coated nanostructured lipid carriers as mucus-penetrating nanoparticles for lipophilic drugs

The main objectives of the present study were (i) to evaluate the effect of the mucus layer on saquinavir-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (SQV-NLCs) uptake and (ii) to evaluate the mucopenetrating properties of dextran-protamine (Dex-Prot) coating on NLCs as per SQV permeability enhancement. Three different NLC formulations differing on particle size and surfactant content were obtained and coated with Dex-Prot complexes. SQV permeability was then evaluated across Caco-2 cell monolayers (enterocyte-like model) and Caco-2/HT29-MTX cell monolayers (mucus model). In the Caco-2 monolayers, Dex-Prot-NLCs increased up to 9-fold SQV permeability in comparison to uncoated nanoparticles. In the Caco-2/HT29-MTX monolayers, Dex-Prot-NLCs presenting a surface charge close to neutrality significantly increased SQV permeability. Hence, Dex-Prot complex coating is a promising strategy to ensure successful nanoparticle mucus-penetration, and thus, an efficient nanoparticle oral delivery. To our knowledge, this is the first time that Dex-Prot coating has been described as a nanoparticle muco-penetration enhancer across the intestinal mucus barrier.