: In this study, self-assembling Soluplus® micelles were examined for inherent properties. Through calorimetric analysis, the critical micelle concentration (CMC) could be determined at 25 and 37 °C, and the influence of three media (Milli-Q water, phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) with a pH of 7.4 and 0.1 M HCl) on the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) was detected. Furthermore, the solubilisation of a poorly soluble drug, furosemide, into the Soluplus® micelles was studied. The concentration-dependent properties of the micellar system were assessed through an examination of the micellar size, polydispersity, morphology, viscosity and solubilising properties, which were all found to be affected by the concentration, but temperature, pH and the composition of the test medium were also found to have an effect. Homogeneity in the estimated micellar size and morphology was shown for monophasic micelle dispersions in lower concentrations and with a shift towards more complex structures or aggregates in higher concentrations. The micelles were further investigated in terms of drug release and biocompatibility with mucus-producing HT29-MTX cells, where no biocompatibility issues were found. In this research, the implications for oral drug delivery are discussed and valuable preformulation information is provided on the micellar properties of a Soluplus® drug system in a liquid or semi-solid form.

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The present study is aimed to enhance the oral bioavailability of ketoprofen by inserting it into the matrixof poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) K10 spatially confined into microcontainers, by means of supercriticalCO2-aided impregnation. Microcontainers are cylindrical reservoirs, with typical sizes in the micrometerrange, with a cavity open on one side, where the drug formulation is loaded. Differently to traditionaltablets, microcontainers have a higher surface area per unit volume, and release the drug only in onedirection. This design is meant to enhance the absorption of problematic drugs, like those with poor sol-ubility in water. In a previous study we introduced a novel technique for drug loading of microcontainers,based on inkjet printing and supercritical impregnation (SCI). We showed that SCI produces accurate andreproducible drug loading for large arrays of microcontainers. In the attempt of enhancing the throughputof the loading methods, we propose the replacement of polymer inkjet printing with an easier man-ual compression of the PVP powder into the microcontainers. As the second step, the polymer powderfilled-microcontainers were submitted to SCI. The separate role of different impregnation parameters(temperature, pressure, time, drug concentration in the supercritical phase) was elucidated with respectto the loading capacity. The microcontainer filling was observed by means of optical macroimaging, X-ray microtomography and scanning electron microscopy. The physical state of the drug was investigatedby means of Raman spectroscopy and compared with selected representative PVP-ketoprofen physicalmixtures. Finally, the drug loading was estimated by means of in vitro dissolution tests.The characterization study shows that the present loading method is a valuable alternative to the onepreviously described. The drug loading can be controlled with high accuracy and reproducibility andthe impregnated drug is in amorphous state. These results demonstrate that SCI can be used as a highthroughput loading technique for microfabricated devices for oral drug delivery

Oral candidiasis is an important opportunistic fungal infection and polyenes and azoles are still the most used antifungal agents. However, the oral absorption resulting from most available treatments is generally poor and, consequently, a very high frequency of administrations of antifungal agents is strongly required. Therefore, the major challenge is to improve the retention of the antifungal agents in buccal mucosa, and the encapsulation into mucoadhesive systems may be considered as a possible strategy to achieve this objective. Three types of mucoadhesive polymeric nanoparticles (polylactic acid (PLA), polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) and alginate) were prepared using nystatin as model drug. The drug-loaded nanoparticles were then included in toothpaste, oral gel and oral films, respectively. The results demonstrated that the loaded nanoparticles were successfully produced, presenting a mean size between 300-900 nm and with a negative surface charge. Also, the determination of the encapsulation efficiency of all nanoparticles showed values above 70%. In terms of the in vitro mucoadhesion, the best formulation was the oral film loaded with the PLGA nanoparticles followed by the oral gel with PLA nanoparticles and thirdly the toothpaste with alginate nanoparticles. This was confirmed in an in vitro rinsing model with mucus producing HT29-MTX cells, where the percentage of nystatin retained to the cells after 40 min of simulated saliva flow was between 10-27% when formulations were used and only 4% for free nystatin. Further studies will include in vivo testing using animal models.

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