Analytical methods for dissolution testing of nanosized drugs

Assessment of In Vitro Release Testing Methods for Colloidal Drug Carriers: The Lack of Standardized Protocols

Although colloidal carriers have been in the pipeline for nearly four decades, standardized methods for testing their drug-release properties remain to be established in pharmacopeias. The in vitro assessment of drug release from these colloidal carriers is one of the most important parameters in the development and quality control of drug-loaded nano- and microcarriers. This lack of standardized protocols occurs due to the difficulties encountered in separating the released drug from the encapsulated one. This review aims to compare the most frequent types of release testing methods (i.e., membrane diffusion techniques, sample and separate methods and in situ detection techniques) in terms of the advantages and disadvantages of each one and of the key parameters that influence drug release in each case.

Non-Effective Improvement of Absorption for Some Nanoparticle Formulations Explained by Permeability under Non-Sink Conditions

We evaluated the in vitro permeability of nanoparticle formulations of high and low lipophilic compounds under non-sink conditions, wherein compounds are not completely dissolved. The permeability of the highly lipophilic compound, griseofulvin, was improved by about 30% due to nanonization under non-sink conditions. Moreover, this permeability was about 50% higher than that under sink conditions. On the other hand, for the low lipophilic compound, hydrocortisone, there was no difference in permeability between micro-and nano-sized compounds under non-sink conditions. The nanonization of highly lipophilic compounds improves the permeability of the unstirred water layer (UWL), which in turn improves overall permeability. On the other hand, because the rate-limiting step in permeation for the low lipophilic compounds is the diffusion of the compounds in the membrane, the improvement of UWL permeability by nanonization does not improve the overall permeability. Based on this mechanism, nanoparticle formulations are not effective for low lipophilic compounds. To accurately predict the absorption of nanoparticle formulations, it is necessary to consider their permeability under non-sink conditions which reflect in vivo conditions.

Recent Advances in Understanding the Micro- and Nanoscale Phenomena of Amorphous Solid Dispersions

Many pharmaceutical drugs in the marketplace and discovery pipeline suffer from poor aqueous solubility, thereby limiting their effectiveness for oral delivery. The use of an amorphous solid dispersion (ASD), a mixture of an active pharmaceutical ingredient and a polymer excipient, greatly enhances the aqueous dissolution performance of a drug without the need for chemical modification. Although this method is versatile and scalable, deficient understanding of the interactions between drugs and polymers inhibits ASD rational design. This current Review details recent progress in understanding the mechanisms that control ASD performance. In the solid-state, the use of high-resolution theoretical, computational, and experimental tools resolved the influence of drug/polymer phase behavior and dynamics on stability during storage. During dissolution in aqueous media, novel characterization methods revealed that ASDs can form complex nanostructures, which maintain and improve supersaturation of the drug. The studies discussed here illustrate that nanoscale phenomena, which have been directly observed and quantified, strongly affect the stability and bioavailability of ASD systems, and provide a promising direction for optimizing drug/polymer formulations.

Dissolution Behavior of Isolated and Aggregated Hematite Particles Revealed by in Situ Liquid Cell Transmission Electron Microscopy

Dissolution behavior of isolated and aggregated hematite particles in 10, 36, and 103 nm, respectively, was investigated using in situ liquid cell transmission microscopy (LCTEM). The high spatial and temporal resolution of LCTEM enables us to differentiate the respective effects of primary particle size, crystal defects, and aggregation state on particle dissolution. At similar electron-beam irradiation parameters, the initial surface-area normalized dissolution rates ( R_SA,Int) of isolated 10, 36, and 103 nm particles are 4.64 ± 3.60, 0.91 ± 0.44, and 0.24 ± 0.04 mg m^-2 s^-1, respectively. Interface free energy, calculated from the measured R_SA,Int, decreases with the decreasing primary particle size. No preferential etching occurs on 10 nm, defect-free nanoparticles, whereas dissolution preferentially originates from crystal defects on 103 nm particles. In dissolution of aggregated particles, dissolution occurs more rapidly on the particles that are more accessible to bulk solution than the others inside the aggregate. As dissolution proceeds, dendritic aggregates break into several smaller aggregates that respectively shrink into even smaller and more compact aggregates, followed by reaggregation together. This study directly shows microscopic dissolution behavior of isolated and aggregated particles in different primary particle sizes, which is important to understand bioavailability, transport, and fate of nanoparticles in aquatic systems.

How to measure release from nanosized carriers?

Novel drug delivery systems exhibit great potential in the formulation of poorly soluble compounds but have also been applied to reduce side effects of highly active drug molecules. Despite all efforts, there are only few technologies available to investigate the in vitro release of next-generation nanotherapeutics. In the following, different approaches for testing the drug release from nanoparticles in the fields of formulation development and quality control will be discussed. A variety of methods is available, starting from dialysis-based equipment, in situ measurements, flow-through devices and sample and separate setups. If possible, these methods should enable a more rapid formulation development and quality control of nanosized carriers as well as improve the prediction of in vivo performance and clinical outcomes.

Acoustic spectroscopy: A powerful analytical method for the pharmaceutical field?

Acoustics is one of the emerging technologies developed to minimize processing, maximize quality and ensure the safety of pharmaceutical, food and chemical products. The operating principle of acoustic spectroscopy is the measurement of the ultrasound pulse intensity and phase after its propagation through a sample. The main goal of this technique is to characterise concentrated colloidal dispersions without dilution, in such a way as to be able to analyse non-transparent and even highly structured systems. This review presents the state of the art of ultrasound-based techniques in pharmaceutical pre-formulation and formulation steps, showing their potential, applicability and limits. It reports in a simplified version the theory behind acoustic spectroscopy, describes the most common equipment on the market, and finally overviews different studies performed on systems and materials used in the pharmaceutical or related fields.

Dissolution and biodurability: Important parameters needed for risk assessment of nanomaterials

Biopersistence and biodurability have the potential to influence the long-term toxicity and hence pathogenicity of particles that deposit in the body. Therefore, biopersistence and biodurability are considered to be important parameters needed for the risk assessment of particles and fibres. Dissolution, as a measure of biodurability, is dependent on the chemical and physical properties (size, surface area, etc.) of particles and fibres and also of the suspension medium including its ionic strength, pH, and temperature. In vitro dissolution tests can provide useful insights as to how particles and fibres may react in biological environments; particles and fibres that release ions at a higher rate when suspended in vitro in a specific simulated biological fluid will be expected to do so when they exist in a similar biological environment in vivo. Dissolution of particles and fibres can follow different reaction kinetics. For example, the majority of micro-sized particles and fibres follow zero-order reaction kinetics. In this case, although it is possible to calculate the half-time of a particle or fibre, such calculation will be dependent on the initial concentration of the investigated particle or fibre. Such dependence was eliminated in the shrinking sphere and fibre models where it was possible to estimate the lifetimes of particles and fibres as a measure of their biodurability. The latter models can be adapted for the dissolution studies of nanomaterials. However, the models may apply only to nanomaterials where their dissolution follows zero-order kinetics. The dissolution of most nanomaterials follows first-order kinetics where dependence on their initial concentration of the investigated nanomaterials is not required and therefore it is possible to estimate their half-times as a measure of their biodurability. In dissolution kinetics for micro-sized and nano-sized particles and fibres, knowledge of dissolution rate constants is necessary to understand biodurability. Unfortunately, many studies on dissolution of nanoparticles and nanofibres do not determine the dissolution rates and dissolution rate constants. The recommendation is that these parameters should be considered as part of the important descriptors of particle and fibre physicochemical properties, which in turn, will enable the determination of their biodurability.

Analytical technologies for real-time drug dissolution and precipitation testing on a small scale

Objectives

This review focuses on real-time analytics of drug dissolution and precipitation testing on a comparatively small scale.

Key findings

Miniaturisation of test equipment is an important trend in pharmaceutics, and several small-scale experiments have been reported for drug dissolution and precipitation testing. Such tests typically employ analytics in real-time. Fibre optic ultraviolet (UV) analytics has become a well-established method in this field. Novel imaging techniques are emerging that use visible or UV light; also promising is Fourier transform infrared imaging based on attenuated total reflection. More information than just a rate constant is obtained from these methods. The early phase of a dissolution process can be assessed and drug precipitation may eventually be observed. Some real-time techniques are particularly well suited to studying drug precipitation during formulation dispersion; for example, turbidity, focused beam reflectance measurement and Raman spectroscopy.

Summary

Small-scale dissolution tests equipped with real-time analytics have become important to screen drug candidates as well as to study prototype formulations in early development. Future approaches are likely to combine different analytical techniques including imaging. Miniaturisation started with mini-vessels or small vials and future assays of dissolution research will probably more often reach the level of parallel well plates and microfluidic channels.

Analysis of the enhanced oral bioavailability of fenofibrate lipid formulations in fasted humans using an in vitro-in silico-in vivo approach

Lipid-based formulations have established a significant role in the formulation of poorly soluble drugs for oral administration. In order to better understand their potential advantages over solid oral dosage forms, we studied the solubility and dissolution/precipitation characteristics of three self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) formulations and one suspension of micronized fenofibrate in lipid excipients, for which pharmacokinetic studies had already been reported in the open literature. The in vitro dispersion/dissolution studies were carried out in biorelevant media using USP II apparatus. These were followed up by in silico simulations using STELLA® software, in which not only dispersion/dissolution, but also the precipitation and re-dissolution of fenofibrate was taken into account. While unformulated drug exhibited poor solubility (0.22 μg/mL in FaSSGF and 4.31 μg/mL in FaSSIF-V2(PO4)) and dissolved less than 2% in dissolution tests, the solubility of fenofibrate in the presence of the lipid excipients increased dramatically (e.g., to 65.44 μg/mL in the presence of the Myritol 318/TPGS/Tween 80 SMEDDS) and there was an attendant increase in the dissolution (over 80% from capsules containing the Myritol 318/TPGS/Tween 80 SMEDDS and about 20% from the dispersion of fenofibrate in lipid excipients). For the four lipid-based fenofibrate formulations studied, combining in vitro data in biorelevant media with in silico simulation resulted in accurate prediction of the in vivo human plasma profiles. The point estimates of C(max) and AUC ratio calculated from the in silico and in vivo plasma profiles fell within the 0.8-1.25 range for the SMEDDS solution and capsule formulations, suggesting an accurate simulation of the in vivo profiles. This similarity was confirmed by calculation of the respective f2 factors. Sensitivity analysis of the simulation profiles revealed that the SMEDDS formulations had virtually removed any dependency of absorption on the dissolution rate in the small intestine, whereas for the dispersion in lipid excipients, this barrier remained. Such results pave the way to optimizing the performance of oral lipid-based formulations via an in vitro-in silico-in vivo approach.

In Vitro Dissolution Testing Strategies for Nanoparticulate Drug Delivery Systems: Recent Developments and Challenges

Nanoparticulate systems have emerged as prevalent drug delivery systems over the past few decades. These delivery systems (such as liposomes, emulsions, nanocrystals, and polymeric nanocarriers) have been extensively used to improve bioavailability, prolong pharmacological effects, achieve targeted drug delivery, as well as reduce side effects. Considering that any unanticipated change in product performance of such systems may result in toxicity and/or change in vivo efficacy, it is essential to develop suitable in vitro dissolution/release testing methods to ensure product quality and performance, and to assist in product development. The present review provides an overview of the current in vitro dissolution/release testing methods such as dialysis, sample and separate, as well as continuous flow methods. Challenges and future directions in the development of standardized and biorelevant in vitro dissolution/release testing methods for novel nanoparticulate systems are discussed.