Dongqin Quan

Oral delivery of oil-based formulation for a novel synthetic cationic peptide of GnRH (gonadotropin-releasing hormone) antagonist for prostate cancer treatment

LXT-101, a cationic peptide is a novel antagonist of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) for prostate cancer treatment. However, effective delivery of peptide drugs into the body by the oral route remains a major challenge due to their origin properties with high molecular weights, strong polarity and low stability in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. In this study, we have developed a novel oral delivery of oil-based formulation in which therapeutic peptide LXT-101 are solubilized in oils and with this solution as oil phase, an optimum formulation of self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) was developed. The peptide stability with the SMEDDS formulation in artificial gastric and intestinal fluid was tested in vitro. On the other hand, the testosterone level and plasma concentration of LXT-101 in rats after oral administration of the SMEDDS formulation were investigated in vivo. The data in vitro indicated that LXT-101 in the SMEDDS formulation was stable over 8 h in artificial gastric and intestinal fluid. LXT-101 can be absorbed in vivo and suppression of testosterone maintained in castration level within 12 h can be achieved effectively after SMEDDS formulation administered orally at a dose of 3.5 mg/kg. The approach can provide a potential way for delivery peptides by oral.

Dissolution evaluation in vitro and bioavailability in vivo of self-microemulsifying drug delivery systems for pH-sensitive drug loratadine

Abstract The aim of this study was to improve the oral absorption of loratadine, a pH-sensitive drug, by self-microemulsifying drug delivery systems (SMEDDSs). The optimal SMEDDS was analysed and evaluated after emulsification in distilled water with diameter of 26.57 ± 0.71 nm and zeta potential of −30.5 ± 4.5 mV. Dissolution experiments in vitro were carried out in different released media of pH values and the SMEDDS formulations were able to release loratadine completely in different media while market tablets just performed similarly in the media of pH 1.2. Furthermore, the oral bioavailability and the pharmacokinetic behaviour of loratadine formulations in vivo were studied after a single dose of 1 mg/kg loratadine in beagle dogs. The SMEDDS formulations displayed higher Cmax and AUC, approximately 9 and 5 times increase than those of market tablets (p < 0.01) respectively. These results demonstrated that SMEDDS formulations had significantly increased the oral absorption of loratadine in beagle dogs.

Multivesicular liposome (MVL) sustained delivery of a novel synthetic cationic GnRH antagonist for prostate cancer treatment.

Objectives  Multivesicular liposomes (MVLs) are often used as an appropriate carrier for delivering peptides due to high drug loading, relative stability and extended‐release behaviour. However, when cationic amphipathic peptides are involved, some challenges may be encountered, including instability of multiple emulsions due to interaction between peptides and lipid membranes (electrostatic and hydrophobic interaction). LXT‐101, a cationic amphipathic peptide, is a novel antagonist of gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) for prostate cancer treatment. The purpose of the current research was to explore simple methods of determining the interaction between peptide and lipid bilayer and to prepare MVLs of LXT‐101 (DepoLXT‐101) by the modified DepoFoam technique.

A novel core-shell lipid nanoparticle for improving oral administration of water soluble chemotherapeutic agents: inhibited intestinal hydrolysis and enhanced lymphatic absorption

Abstract The oral administration of water-soluble chemotherapeutical agents is limited by their serious gastrointestinal side effects, instability at intestinal pH, and poor absorption. Aiming to solve these problems, we chose topotecan (TPT) as a model drug and developed a novel lipid formulation containing core-shell lipid nanoparticle (CLN) that makes the water-soluble drug to ‘dissolve’ in oil. TPT molecules can be encapsulated into nanoparticles surrounded by oil barrier while avoiding the direct contact with intestinal environment, thus easing the intestinal hydrolytic degradation and gastrointestinal (GI) irritation. Microstructure and mean particle size of TPT-CLN were characterized by Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), respectively. The average size of nanoparticles was approximately 60 nm with a homogeneous distribution in shapes of spheres or ellipsoid. According to in vitro stability studies, more initial form of TPT was observed in presence of lipid nanoparticle compared with free topotecan solution in artificial intestinal juice (pH 6.5). After oral administration of TPT-CLN in rats, AUC and Cmax of TPT were all increased compared with free TPT, indicating significant enhancement of oral absorption. Intestinal lymphatic transport was confirmed as the major way for CLN to enhance oral absorption of TPT by the treatment of blocking chylomicron flow. Lower GI irritation of TPT-CLN was observed in the gastrointestinal damage studies. The in vivo antitumor activity of TPT-CLN showed an improved antitumor efficacy by oral treatment of TPT-CLN compared to free TPT. From the obtained data, the systems appear an attractive progress in oral administration of topotecan.

Reversed lipid-based nanoparticles dispersed in oil for malignant tumor treatment via intratumoral injection

Abstract Intratumoral injection of anticancer drugs directly delivers chemotherapeutics to the tumor region, offering an alternative strategy for cancer treatment. However, most hydrophilic drugs spread quickly from the injection site into systemic circulation, leading to inferior antitumor activity and adverse effects in patients. Therefore, we developed novel reversed lipid-based nanoparticles (RLBN) as a nanoscale drug carrier. RLBNs differ from traditional nanoscale drug carriers in that they possess a reversed structure consisting of a polar core and lipophilic periphery, leading to excellent solubility and stability in hydrophobic liquids; therefore, hydrophilic drugs can be entrapped in RLBNs and dispersed in oil. In vivo studies in tumor-bearing Balb/c nude mice indicated remarkable antitumor activity of RLBN-DOX after a single injection, with effective tumor growth inhibition for at least 17 days; the inhibition rate was ∼80%. These results can be attributed to the long-term retention and sustained drug release of RLBN-DOX in the tumor region. In contrast, intratumoral injection of free DOX showed weaker antitumor activity than RLBN-DOX did, with the tumor size doubling by day 11 and tripling by day 17. Further, the initial burst of drug released from free DOX could produce detrimental systemic effects, such as weight loss. Histological analyses by TUNEL staining showed apoptosis after treatment with RLBN-DOX, whereas tumor cell viability was high in the free DOX group. Current results indicate that RLBNs show sustained delivery of hydrophilic agents to local areas resulting in therapeutic efficacy, and they may be a promising drug delivery system suitable for intratumoral chemotherapy.

Determination of Iodate by HPLC-UV after On-Line Electrochemical Reduction to Iodide

In this study, a novel on-line pre-column electrochemical instrument (PECI) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed, and a novel method based on PEC-HPLC-UV for amplifying the ultraviolet (UV) response of iodate (IO₃⁻) was studied. Iodate undergoes reduction in the PECI, and the resulting I(-) was injected to an HPLC system and detected by a UV detector. For IO₃⁻ analysis, conditions that can influence the reduction efficiency, including applied potential, pH value and salt concentration, were investigated in detail. In an appropriate condition, the UV response of iodate after passing through PECI was almost 10 times more than that of the initial form with good precision (relative standard deviation 2.0-4.3%). The detection limit and quantity limit were 9 and 20 ng, respectively. It can be concluded that the proposed method is simple and highly sensitive.

Multivesicular liposomes for sustained release of naltrexone hydrochloride: design, characterization and in vitro/in vivo evaluation

Multivesicular liposomes containing naltrexone hydrochloride (DepoNTX) was prepared by using the traditional DepoFoam technology and the key formulation factors on encapsulation efficiency and particle size were investigated. A morphological characterization and in vitro/in vivo release assay was also carried out. NTX was successfully encapsulated in DepoNTX with good yield and showing the spherical, smooth and multivesicular characteristics of particle by a light microscope. The in vitro studies in human plasma and sodium chloride showed that 80–85% of NTX encapsulated in MVLs released slowly from particles over 5 days. In vivo study, after a single dose of 2.0 mg/kg of DepoNTX formulation administered subcutaneously in rats, plasma NTX levels were maintained at a relatively constant level above 10 ng/mL for approximately 120 h, while after administered NTX solution, NTX level was quickly decreased below 10 ng/mL within 20 h. The results of the study demonstrated that DepoNTX was very promising candidate for sustained release delivery of naltrexone hydrochloride.

A Novel Surfactant-free Lipid-based Formulation for Improving Oral Bioavailability of Loratadine Using Colloidal Silicon Dioxide as Emulsifier and Solid Carrier

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to develop an innovative surfactant-free lipidbased formulation (LF) for improving oral bioavailability of loratadine based on using solid particles colloidal silicon dioxide (CSD) as emulsifier and solid carrier. METHODS Loratadine was dissolved in oil solution with the aid of co-solvent and LF formulations were prepared by a simple adsorption and milling technique. The LF Powder was evaluated in terms of angle of repose and X-ray powder diffraction. After dispersing and emulsifying in water, the particle size and morphology were also characterized. In vitro dissolution and pharmacokinetic behavior in vivo were also studied. RESULTS Orthogonal design indicated that the amount of CSD in formulations had a major and significant influence on emulsification. The optimal formulation showed LF with good flowability and without crystallization or deposition of loratadine in it. CONCLUSION After dispersing in water, an emulsion with the mean droplet size of 1.2μm was obtained. Although the dissolution of drug from LF was slower in vitro in acidic aqueous solution, pharmacokinetic studies in vivo showed that the bioavailability of loratadine increased 2.49-fold by CF compared to a commercial tablet.

Creation of an assessment system for measuring the bitterness of azithromycin-containing reverse micelles

We aimed to develop a novel method for assessing the bitterness of azithromycin-containing reverse micelles (AM-containing RMs). Azithromycin-containing reverse micelles were prepared by processing Lipoid E80 and medium chain triglycerides via a freeze-drying method. The bitterness threshold of azithromycin was determined by human taste test, and an equation was derived to correlate the azithromycin concentrations and bitterness scores of standard solutions. Simulated salivary fluids and sampling times were fixed based on the drug release profile of AM-containing RMs, with Zithromax® (a commercial formulation of azithromycin) used as the control. The drug release concentrations from stimulated salivary fluids were then used to assess the bitterness of AM-containing RMs and Zithromax®. Afterward, the oral bioavailability of both formulations was evaluated by in vivo experiments in male Wistar rats. The results showed that the bitterness threshold of azithromycin standard solutions was between 25.3 µg/ml and 30.4 µg/ml. Thereafter, we calculated that the bitterness scores and the drug release concentrations of the azithromycin-containing reverse micelle formulation were similar to those of Zithromax® at each time point after 10 min of dispersal in simulated salivary fluid. In addition, the AUC0−t after oral administration of AM-containing RMs was 1.75-fold (P < 0.05) higher than that of Zithromax®. In conclusions, a system for assessing bitterness was developed using an in vitro drug release evaluation method and a human taste test panel. We found that the bitterness of azithromycin was successfully masked by reverse micelles, which also improved the oral bioavailability of azithromycin compared to that of Zithromax®.

Release Characteristics In Vitro and In Vivo of In Situ Gels for a Novel Peptide Compared with Low-Molecular-Weight Hydrophilic Drug

BACKGROUND The thermo-sensitive in situ gels based on copolymers are attractive as an injectable drug delivery carriers for sustained releasing of hydrophilic drugs. The purposes of this work are to investigate the release behavior in vitro and pharmacokinetic profiles in vivo of peptide and lowmolecular- weight hydrophilic drug loaded in the in situ gels. METHODS A triblock copolymer PLGA-PEG-PLGA (1402-1000-1402) 1115A (1115A) was synthesized and its rheological and gelatin properties were evaluated. The temperature-sensitive in situ gels based on 1115A of LXT-101, a polypeptide drug, were prepared and the release characteristics in vitro and pharmacokinetic behavior in vivo were investigated. Meanwhile, naltrexone hydrochloride (NTX), a water-soluble low-molecular-weight drug was chosen as the model drug and the in situ gels were also prepared and studied comparatively. RESULTS Slow-release characteristics were observed in vitro with in situ gels of LXT-101 and NTX. The release profiles and the mechanisms were different manifested by that NTX was released from in situ gels faster and more completely than LXT-101. Otherwise, the release pattern of LXT-101 showed a biphasic mechanism, an initial Fickian diffusion followed by a combination of degradation and diffusion at a later stage. The results of pharmacokinetic study indicated that a sustained release behavior could be obtained with MRT0-t (30.34 ± 12.47) h for LXT-101 and MRT0-t (2.37 ± 0.876) h for NTX, about 10 and 4 times longer than those of aqueous solution respectively. The pharmacodynamics studies in vivo further showed that in situ gel formulations of LXT-101 could sustain efficacy 6 days compared with only 1 day for aqueous solutions. CONCLUSION The results of release behavior in vitro and in vivo indicated that in situ gels with copolymer 1115A could be served as carriers for delay-released drug delivery systems and might be more suitable for polypeptide drugs compared to low-molecular-weight hydrophilic drugs.