Influence of compression forces on tablets disintegration by AC Biosusceptometry

Pharmacomagnetography to evaluate the performance of magnetic enteric-coated tablets in the human gastrointestinal tract

A magnetic enteric-coated tablet containing diclofenac sodium was produced, and its performance under physiological and disturbed gastrointestinal motility was assessed through pharmacomagnetography analysis. In vitro studies were performed using conventional methods and in vivo studies were conducted on healthy volunteers before (control) and after domperidone administration. The magnetic tablet's gastrointestinal (GI) transit and disintegration process were monitored using the Alternating Current Biosusceptometry sensors combined with drug plasmatic concentration. The Gastric Residence Time, Colon Arrival Time, Small Bowel Transit Time, Disintegration Time and the pharmacokinetics parameters were calculated. The pH-dependent polymers used to coat the magnetic tablets were able to avoid the premature drug release on gastric or small intestine simulated medium. Gastric Residence Time was accelerated compared with the control group (p < 0.01). No significant differences were found regarding small bowel transit, colon arrival, disintegration process, or pharmacokinetics parameters. A strong correlation between magnetic monitoring and pharmacokinetics parameters analysis was determinant to evaluate the efficiency in the drug delivery at a specific site in the human gastrointestinal tract. In addition, a tablet with a damaged coating was used as a proof of concept to show the suitability of our methodology to evaluate the tablet. Our study showed that pharmacomagnetography is a multi-instrumental approach towards assessing drug delivery and bioavailability.

A Review of Disintegration Mechanisms and Measurement Techniques

Pharmaceutical solid dosage forms (tablets or capsules) are the predominant form to administer active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to the patient. Tablets are typically powder compacts consisting of several different excipients in addition to the API. Excipients are added to a formulation in order to achieve the desired fill weight of a dosage form, to improve the processability or to affect the drug release behaviour in the body. These complex porous systems undergo different mechanisms when they come in contact with physiological fluids. The performance of a drug is primarily influenced by the disintegration and dissolution behaviour of the powder compact. The disintegration process is specifically critical for immediate-release dosage forms. Its mechanisms and the factors impacting disintegration are discussed and methods used to study the disintegration in-situ are presented. This review further summarises mathematical models used to simulate disintegration phenomena and to predict drug release kinetics.

A hybrid transducer to magnetically and ultrasonically evaluate magnetic fluids

Ultrasound, magnetic fields, and optical techniques have been explored for clinical diagnosis and therapy. However, these techniques have limitations. In this study, we constructed and characterized a transducer to magnetically and ultrasonically investigate samples labeled with magnetic particles. The transducer is a hybrid system consisting of an ac biosusceptometer (ACB) and an ultrasonic transducer. The basic operation principle consisted of measuring the magnetization and microvibrations of ferromagnetic particles (37 and 70 μm) mixed in yogurt and excited by an external alternating magnetic field generated by the ACB's excitation coils. The vibration of the ferromagnetic particles was measured in phantoms using a Doppler ultrasonic transducer; we verified the sensitivity to detecting the vibrations at low concentrations of ferromagnetic material (~1%). The responses of the susceptometer and Doppler ultrasound linearly depended on the voltage level applied to the magnetizing coils at low ferromagnetic particle concentrations (⩽ 5%). We also conducted a repeatability test on the prototype, which indicated a deviation of 0.94% and 0.25% in the Doppler and susceptometric measurements, respectively. We can conclude that the hybrid transducer technique has potential clinical applications.

AC biosusceptometry technique to evaluate the gastrointestinal transit of pellets under influence of prandial state

Multiparticulate dosage forms have been proposed when distal regions of gastrointestinal tract are desirable as target of drugs. It is known that physiological parameters might interfere with the processes related to the drug delivery and absorption and therefore, it is essential to evaluate the behavior of such delivery systems in vivo. The aim of this study was to propose the AC Biosusceptometry technique as a noninvasive and radiation free device to evaluate the gastrointestinal transit of a magnetic multiparticulate dosage form in healthy volunteers under fasting and fed conditions. Magnetic pellets were prepared by the powder layering method of ferrite on nonpareils sugar beads and coated by using Eudragit. Our data showed that the AC Biosusceptometry technique was able to monitoring the gastrointestinal transit of pellets presenting similar profiles as demonstrated by standard techniques. Food intake has markedly influenced the gastric emptying as well as the colon arrival and the small intestine transit of magnetic pellets.

Hybrid system for magnetic and acoustic measurement

In order to improve the spatial resolution of Biosusceptometry of Alternate Current (BAC), we are suggesting the coupling of a Doppler ultrasonic transducer with the BAC system. The Doppler transducer obtains information from the vibration of ferromagnetic particles immersed in a visco-elastic medium when it is excited by an alternating magnetic field. In this case, the same magnetic particles used as contrast for susceptometric measurement also will work as contrast for the Doppler measurement. In this work, we present the characterization of the hybrid system for susceptometric and acoustic measurements simultaneously. It was observed that the susceptometric and Doppler ultrasound signal have the same profile and maximum amplitude for frequency of magnetizing field about 200 Hz. When using ferrite particles as magnetic contrast mixed with yogurt as based material, the susceptometric and Doppler measurement have sensitivity for concentration of particles as low as 1%. The sensitivity of the Doppler is dependent of the gradient of magnetic field over the sample. In this work, the magnetic field 5 cm far from the face of the transducer was 70 microT/volts.

Pharmaceutical applications of AC biosusceptometry

AC Biosusceptometry offers an alternative to investigate noninvasively and without ionizing radiation the behavior of solid dosage forms in vitro and in the human gastrointestinal tract. This versatility allowed applying this technique in a wide field ranging from characterization of the disintegration process to elucidation of how the physiological parameters can interfere with pharmaceutical processes. It is increasingly important to understand how oral solid dosage forms behave in the human gastrointestinal tract. Once labelled, magnetic dosage forms provide an excellent opportunity to investigate complexes' interactions between dosage form and gastrointestinal physiology. In this paper, basic principles of this biomagnetic instrumentation and of the quantification based on magnetic images are reviewed. Also will be presented are some of the most recent applications of AC Biosusceptometry in the pharmaceutical research including oesophageal transit, gastric emptying and transit time of multiparticulate dosage forms, hydrophilic matrices and disintegration of tablets.

Gastric motility evaluated by electrogastrography and alternating current biosusceptometry in dogs

Association techniques could be the answer for evaluating electromechanical coupling and gastric emptying under basal conditions and after administration of drugs. Electrogastrography (EGG) and alternating current biosusceptometry (ACB) emerged due to their interesting nature, noninvasiveness and low cost. The aims were to examine in dogs the effect of erythromycin on gastric emptying by ACB and electrical and motor responses to erythromycin and propranolol by ACB and EGG respectively. Twelve beagle dogs ingested a solid test meal on separate days. Under anesthesia, gastric motility was evaluated by EGG and ACB after erythromycin and propranolol administration. Without anesthesia, gastric emptying was assessed under basal conditions and after erythromycin by ACB. ACB and EGG showed a strong temporal correlation. Erythromycin and propranolol presented the same profile with different power ratios; the amplitude increased whereas frequency decreased. Also, erythromycin administration hastened gastric emptying while reducing the orocaecal transit time. There is a demand for reliable, easy-to-perform and comfortable techniques to record gastric emptying and gastric activity in medicine and veterinary practice. In summary, the association of ACB with EGG accompanied by an appropriate animal model is promising for evaluating effects of drugs in gastric myoelectrical and contractile activity.