Particle design for improving taste and homogeneity of traditional Chinese medicinal powder: taking Zhuhuang Chuihou Powder as an example / 中国中药杂志

Due to the complex source and different physical and chemical properties of traditional Chinese medicines(TCM) powder, there are many common pharmaceutical problems in its preparation, such as large particle size difference, poor mixing uniformity, and poor compliance with oral intake, which has directly affected the quality of solid preparations as well as their clinical efficacy and safety. This study observed the property of Zhuhuang Chuihou Powder and extract its pharmaceutical defects. It was found that realgar and calcined Borax in Zhuhuang Chuihou Powder were heavy in texture and toxic, and they were easy to be isolated, indicating the potential safety hazard. At the same time, Coptidis Rhizoma and Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex were the main sources of its bitterness. Therefore, based on the idea of "drug-excipients unity", the particle design technology was used to prepare core/shell-type composite particles with bitter medicines as the core and mineral medicines as shell. Both infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy results indicated the formation of composite particles, and the taste of these composite particles were improved. Compared with the physical mixtures, the composite particles exhibited significantly decreased RSD values in the content uniformity of berberine hydrochloride, arsenic disulfide, and sodium tetraborate and appearance uniformity. The introduction of particle design technology solved the problem of uneven dispersion of Zhuhuang Chuihou Powder, thus ensuring its uniform dispersion, stability, and control and improving the quality of the original preparation. This has provided a scientific basis for the quality control of TCM powder.

Application of design technology for preparing Lingzhu Powder particles based on solvent evaporation method / 中国中药杂志

Targeting the deficiencies of Lingzhu Powder, this study introduced the particle design technology to improve its quality. Based on the mechanism of particle design for powder and the characteristics of solvent evaporation method, composite particles consisting of Succinum, Cinnabaris, and artificial Bovis Calculus were prepared. And the powder properties of composite particles and physical mixtures as well as the content uniformity of toxic components were investigated for exploring the technological advantages of particle design in improving the quality of Lingzhu Powder. The results showed that the composite particles prepared using solvent evaporation method and particle design technology were micro-particles, and the stable agglomerate structure could be observed under SEM. Composite particles exhibited better fluidity and compliance in oral intake than physical mixtures. The differences in chromatism, bulk density, and content uniformity of the composite particles were smaller than those of physical mixtures, and the corresponding RSD values \[4.8%, 1.8%, 3.4%(bilirubin), and 0.63%(HgS), respectively\] were smaller. The solvent evaporation combined with particle design technology can be utilized to significantly improve the quality of Lingzhu Powder, which has provided new ideas for the optimization of the quality of traditional Chinese medicinal powder.

Study on mixing uniformity of powder based on raw material powder of Qingrun Pill design technology and near infrared spectroscopy / 中草药

Objective: Using Qingrun Pill as model drug, the raw material powder of Qingrun Pill with uniform mixture was prepared. The rapid analysis method was used to evaluate the mixing uniformity of Qingrun Pill raw materials. Methods: Based on the particle design technology, the raw material powder of Qingrun Pill was prepared, the core-shell particles were established with the particle size as the index, and the mixing uniformity of the raw material powder of Qingrun Pill was analyzed with the standard deviation of moving block as the index by near infrared spectroscopy. Finally, it was verified by HPLC. Results: According to the particle design technology, the raw material powder of Qingrun Pill was designed. Shell particles: Rheum officinale and other materials; Nuclear particles: Scutellaria baicalensis and other materials; The particle size (d0.9) of shell particles at ultrafine grinding for 12 min was about 5 μm, and that of nuclear particles at ultrafine grinding for 6 min was about 130 μm. The ratio of nuclear particles to shell particles was more than 10:1, which met the requirements of particle design. Near-infrared spectroscopy showed that shell particles were ultrafine comminuted for 12 min, and then the nuclear particles were mixed evenly for 6 min. Conclusion: In this study, Qingrun Pill powder was prepared based on particle design technology, and the mixing uniformity of powder was evaluated by near infrared spectroscopy. This method is simple and feasible, real-time, and without destroying the sample.

Improving hygroscopicity of fermented Cordyceps powder based on particle design technology of traditional Chinese medicine / 中国中药杂志

Commonly used dosage forms of fermented Cordyceps powder products are capsules and tablets. The hygroscopicity of the powder,as one of the important parameters in the tableting process,has important effects on the tabletting process of the tablets. How to improve the hygroscopicity of powder is of great significance for the development of new composite particles. Therefore,particle design technology was used in this study to prepare composite particle powder,and its hygroscopicity was compared with fermented Cordyceps powder and physically mixed powder. By preparing three different types of powders,the equilibrium moisture absorption,particle size,scanning electron micrograph,angle of repose,contact angle and compression degree were compared to observe the effect of traditional Chinese medicine particle design technology on improving the hygroscopicity of the fermented Cordyceps powder. The results showed that the equilibrium moisture absorption was 21. 2%,19. 6%,14. 5% respectively for the fermented Cordyceps powder,physically mixed powder and composite particle powder; the median diameter was(49. 751± 0. 280),(59. 183± 0. 170),(12. 842±0. 080) μm,respectively; the mode diameter was(185. 479±1. 372),(173. 964± 1. 104),(61. 671± 0. 979) μm,respectively. In the scanning electron micrograph of the composite particle powder,it can be clearly seen that the fermented Cordyceps powder had hydrophobic gas phase nano-silica with a fixed shape and uniform size. The angle of repose was(50. 63 ± 0. 75) °,(49. 25 ± 0. 43) °,(48. 33±0. 84) ° respectively; the contact angle was(7. 4±0. 2) °,(8. 2±0. 3) °,(15. 0±2. 6) ° respectively; and the compression degree was(38. 2±1. 3) %,(35. 8±0. 2) %,(32. 5±2. 6) % respectively. This study showed that after treatment by the vibrating ultrafine pulverizer,the fermented Cordyceps powder particles had obvious and uniform small particle hydrophobic gas phase nano-silica adhered to form a partially wrapped coating structure,which reduced the contact surface of fermented Cordyceps powder with the outside world,thereby reducing the hygroscopicity of the composite particle powder. It further demonstrated that the hygroscopicity of fermented Cordyceps powder can be improved by particle design.

Research progress on modification technology and equipment of Chinese materia medica powder / 中草药

Chinese materia medica (CMM) powder has poor mobility, hygroscopic, viscous and easy reunion because of the complex physical and chemical properties. In recent years, pharmacy workers used domestic and foreign reference materials, chemicals, drugs and other chemical powder modification technology to improve the physicochemical properties of CMM powder, and have made some progress. This article summarizes the common modification technology and equipment of CMM powder, puts forward the basic ideas and the development prospects of CMM powder modification.