Celecoxib confinement within mesoporous silicon for enhanced oral bioavailability

3D-Printed Mesoporous Carrier System for Delivery of Poorly Soluble Drugs

Fused deposition modelling (FDM) is the most extensively employed 3D-printing technique used in pharmaceutical applications, and offers fast and facile formulation development of personalized dosage forms. In the present study, mesoporous materials were incorporated into a thermoplastic filament produced via hot-melt extrusion and used to produce oral dosage forms via FDM. Mesoporous materials are known to be highly effective for the amorphization and stabilization of poorly soluble drugs, and were therefore studied in order to determine their ability to enhance the drug-release properties in 3D-printed tablets. Celecoxib was selected as the model poorly soluble drug, and was loaded into mesoporous silica (MCM-41) or mesoporous magnesium carbonate. In vitro drug release tests showed that the printed tablets produced up to 3.6 and 1.5 times higher drug concentrations, and up to 4.4 and 1.9 times higher release percentages, compared to the crystalline drug or the corresponding plain drug-loaded mesoporous materials, respectively. This novel approach utilizing drug-loaded mesoporous materials in a printed tablet via FDM shows great promise in achieving personalized oral dosage forms for poorly soluble drugs.

Development of a Two-Compartment System In vitro Dissolution Test and Correlation with In vivo Pharmacokinetic Studies for Celecoxib

The objective of this study was to develop a novel open-mode two-compartment system dissolution apparatus to simulate the dissolution and absorption of poorly soluble drugs and to establish an in vitro-in vivo correlation (IVIVC). Celecoxib (CEB) was selected as a model drug, and in vitro dissolution was performed using the novel dissolution apparatus with acetate buffers at pH 4.5 containing Tween 80 (0.15%, w/v), at a flow rate of 30 mL/min and an agitation rate of 50 rpm. Cumulative release of all formulations was incomplete at approximately 70-80%, which likely reflected in vivo dissolution. Corresponding pharmacokinetic studies were performed in which twelve healthy male subjects from two bioequivalence studies received either one immediate release (IR) dose of the test (test 1 or test 2) or the reference formulation (Celebrex®, 200 mg). Individual plasma profiles of the formulations were deconvoluted via the Wanger-Nelson method to obtain the mean absorption fractions. A level A correlation was successfully developed with a good R². The Weibull equation was used to describe the in vitro dissolution and in vivo absorption kinetics. In vitro dissolution correlated with in vivo absorption was applied successfully to predict the in vivo plasma concentrations-time profiles of the CEB formulations. Compared with conventional methods, the novel dissolution device showed great potential for discriminating the dissolution between formulations and generic drugs, which may provide a tool for making in vivo predictions for next bioequivalence trials.

Controlling and Predicting the Dissolution Kinetics of Thermally Oxidised Mesoporous Silicon Particles: Towards Improved Drug Delivery

Porous silicon (pSi) continues to receive considerable interest for use in applications ranging from sensors, biological scaffolds, therapeutic delivery systems to theranostics. Critical to all of these applications is pSi degradation and stabilization in biological media. Here we report on progress towards the development of a mechanistic understanding for the dissolution behavior of native (unoxidized) and thermally oxidized (200-600 °C) pSi microparticles. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to characterize the pSi surface chemistry after thermal oxidation. PSi dissolution was assessed using a USP method II apparatus by monitoring the production of orthosilicic acid, and the influence of gastro-intestinal (GI) fluids were examined. Fitting pSi dissolution kinetics with a sum of the exponential model demonstrated that the dissolution process strongly correlates with the three surface hydride species and their relative reactivity, and was supported by the observed FTIR spectral changes of pSi during dissolution. Finally, the presence of GI proteins was shown to hamper pSi dissolution by adsorption to the pSi surface acting as a barrier preventing water attack. These findings are significant in the optimal design of pSi particles for oral delivery and other controlled drug delivery applications.

Systematic in vitro and in vivo study on porous silicon to improve the oral bioavailability of celecoxib

Mesoporous materials are promising candidates for improving dissolution rate of poorly water-soluble drugs in vitro and their bioavailability in vivo. In the present study, sixteen batches of celecoxib-loaded PSi particles with pore sizes ranging from 17 to 58 nm and celecoxib content from 5 to 36 w-% were prepared and a detailed physicochemical characterization of the drug was performed by several methods. Interaction between co-culture of Caco-2/HT29-MTX cells and unloaded PSi particles was tested in toxicity assays, and increased toxicity for particles with large pore size was observed. Dissolution rate of celecoxib was improved in vitro by lowering the drug loading degree which hindered the recrystallization of celecoxib on the external surface of the particles. The fastest permeation of loaded celecoxib through the co-culture monolayer as well as the highest bioavailability in rats was observed with the particles with small pore size and low loading degree. New insights were obtained on how various parameters of the mesoporous delivery system affect the state of the drug inside the pores and its release in vitro and in vivo.