Background: Intercomponent drug interactions could play important role for drug release, membrane permeability and membranotropic action. Therefore, newly developed drugs need for checking their biopharmaceutical characteristics. A new analgetic drug based on paracetamol (Actimask® Acetaminoprofen) and a hepatoprotector N-acetyl-D-glucosamine has been developed, with increased safety and potentiation of the analgesic effect (Ruban O., 2022). Multibilayer lipid membranes were chosen as promising testing medium due to their proved appropriation and sensitivity for study multi-compound drug-membrane interactions. It is the basis for a kinetic approach allowing elucidation of biopharmaceutical interactions in model membrane medium.
Objectives: Revealing changes of paracetamol release and membrane penetration in the new paracetamol-glucosamine analgetic drug as well as estimation the rationale of the approach developed to trace biopharmaceutical interactions in model membrane medium.
Materials and Methods: L-a-dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine (DMPC) multibilayer membrane was used as a model biomimetic testing medium. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was applicated to trace kinetics of drug-membrane interactions.
Results: Gelatin as a part of Actimask® increased the characteristic time of paracetamol diffusion about threefold, but it had no pronounced effect on the equilibrium paracetamol penetration into the membrane. Sole glucosamine manifested no membranotropic effect under the experimental conditions, however, in combination with gelatin, it sufficiently reduced equilibrium paracetamol penetration while paracetamol diffusion remained within the experimental error. The full drug formulation increased membrantoropic effect by 34 % in compared with sole paracetamol.
Conclusions: Glucosamine and gelatin can affect both kinetic and equilibrium parameters of paracetamol-membrane interactions, while the full set of the drug components is able to increase the effect which correlates well with the previously established enhancement of analgetic effect of the drugs. The approach developed allows accurate tracing of drug release and membrane penetration depending on a set of drug components. Generally, the results obtained prove the rationale of applying the approach to pre-clinical drug examination.