Study on preparation and in vivo safety of progesterone cocrystal / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE To prepare progesterone-2-chloro-4-nitroaniline cocrystal （CNA） so as to improve the solubility of progesterone and primarily evaluate the safety of the progesterone cocrystal in vivo. METHODS Using progesterone as the main body and CNA as the ligand， progesterone-CNA cocrystal was prepared with solvent evaporation method. The cocrystal was characterized by X-ray single crystal diffraction， X-ray powder diffraction （XRPD）， differential scanning calorimetry （DSC） and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （IR）. The dissolution rate of cocrystal was compared with those of progesterone and physical mixture. Forty-eight female KM mice were randomly divided into normal group （phosphate buffer containing 0.1% dimethyl sulfoxide）， progesterone group （16 mg/kg）， CNA group （9 mg/kg）， progesterone-CNA cocrystal low-dose， medium- dose and high-dose groups （6， 12.5， 25 mg/kg）， with 8 mice in each group. They were given relevant medicine/solvent intramuscularly， once a day， for consecutive 14 d. The safety of cocrystal was evaluated primarily by determining/observing the changes in body weight， organ index， tissue morphology， blood routine indicators， and liver and kidney function indicators. RESULTS The new crystal structure in the X-ray single crystal diffraction results， the new characteristic peak in the XRPD pattern， the change of melting point in the DSC results， and the change of the characteristic peak position in the range of 3 500- 2 750 cm－1 and 1 700-1 250 cm－1 in the infrared spectrum all Δ 基金项目国家重点研发计划项目（No.2022YFC3502100） indicated that progesterone-CNA cocrystal was successfully ＊第一作者 硕士研究生 。研究方向 ：药物制备技术与工艺 。 prepared， and the dissolution rate of cocrystal was more than E-mail：SWB_1221@163.com # 通信作者教授，硕士生导师，博士。研究方向：药物制备技术与 twice that of the progesterone raw material drug. The results of 工艺。E-mail：wuxx-415@126.com in vivo safety experiments showed that the mortality rate of all 中国药房 2023年第34卷第13期 China Pharmacy 2023 Vol. 34 No. 13 · 1567 · groups was zero. Compared with normal group， uterine indexes of mice in progesterone group and progesterone-CNA cocrystal groups were significantly increased （P＞0.05）， and endometrium was also thickened； there was no statistical difference in the changes of body mass， liver and kidney function， liver index， kidney index， the number of leukocyte， lymphocyte and neutrophil in routine blood test among those groups （P＞0.05）， and the morphology of liver and kidney tissue has also no significant difference. However， the number of plasma red blood cells in the progesterone group decreased significantly （P＜0.05）， and there was no statistical significance in the number difference of red blood cells among progesterone-CNA cocrystal groups （P＞0.05）. CONCLUSIONS The progesterone-CNA cocrystal is successfully prepared with good safety in vivo， which significantly improve the solubility of progesterone.

Study on Protective Effects of Crocin against Triptolide-induced Visceral Organ Injury in Mice / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE：To study the prot ective effects of crocin （CR）against triptolide （TP）-induced visceral organ injury in mice，and to provide reference for the studying TP compatibility and detoxification. METHODS ：Fifty mice were randomly divided into normal group ，TP low-dose and high-dose groups （i.e. TP-L group ，TP-H group ，with 300，600 μg/kg），TP low-dose and high dose combined with CR groups （i.e. TP-L+CR group ，TP-H+CR group ，with 300 μg/kg TP+100 mg/kg CR ，600 μg/kg TP+ 100 mg/kg CR ），with 10 mice in each group. Except for normal group ，other groups were given relevant medicine intragastrically ， once a day ，for consecutive 7 d. The body weight of mice was weighted every day ，and their death was recorded. After last administration，the mice were sacrificed ，and the heart ，liver，kidney and testis were taken ，and the organ index was calculated ； serum levels of ALT ，AST，BUN and Scr ，the activity of T-SOD and the contents of MDA were all determined. The pathological changes of heart ，liver，kidney and testis were observed ；mRNA expression of Bcl- 2，Bax and caspase- 3 in liver tissue were determined. RESULTS ：Three，five，two and three mice in TP-L group ，TP-H group ，TP-L+CR group and TP-H+CR group died respectively，and the survival rates were 70％，50％，80％ and 70％，respectively. Compared with normal group ，the body weight （7th day of experiment ），heart index ，liver index ，kidney index （except for TP-L group ），testicular index ，T-SOD activity and mRNA expression of Bcl- 2 in liver tissue ，serum levels of ALT （except for TP-L group ），AST（except for TP-L group ），BUN and Scr，MDA content and mRNA expression of Bax ，mRNA expression of caspase- 3 in liver tissue were increased significantly （P＜ 0.05 or P＜0.01）. There were obvious pathological changes in heart ，liver，kidney and testis tissue. Compared with the same dose of TP alone group ，the above indexes of TP combined with CR group were improved in varying degrees. Except for the renal index and serum ALT level of TP-L+CR group ，there was statistical significance for all indexes （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）；the pathological injuries of heart ，liver，kidney and testis were significantly improved. CONCLUSIONS ：CR can relieve the damage of heart ， liver，kidney and testis induced by TP ，which may be related to the antioxidant stress of CR.