In vitro-in vivo evaluation of nanosuspension release from subcutaneously implantable osmotic pumps.

Utilizing poorly soluble drug candidates in pharmacokinetic studies remains challenging in preclinical drug development. We investigated a nanosuspension-based delivery system to achieve constant drug plasma levels by applying the nanoparticles via subcutaneously implanted micro-osmotic pumps. Various nanosuspension formulations were characterized in vitro prior to Alzet® pump release by means of dynamic light scattering (DLS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and rheological measurements. In vitro formulation release was checked by HPLC/UV. The in vivo experiments compared plasma-concentration time profiles of subcutaneously injected nanosuspensions with those of formulations delivered by pumps. Two Poloxamer 338 containing nanosuspensions with different viscosities were found to be stable over observation time, physically resistant against biorelevant media and showed only a low amorphous part after preparation. The more viscous nanosuspension with 31.65 mPas revealed in vitro the expected zero-order release, while the low viscous formulation with 2.18 mPas showed first order release. In in vivo experiments, the higher viscous nanosuspension released from osmotic pumps exhibited elevated plasma levels compared to the lower viscous formulation. Compared to bolus injected nanosuspensions constant plasma levels could be maintained by adapting the viscosity of the nanosuspension. Subcutaneously implanted osmotic pumps prove to be a valuable delivery system for nanosuspensions in pharmacokinetic studies by consideration of the key parameter viscosity in release kinetics.

Recent results of biotransformation of drugs: investigation of the in vitro biotransformation of thalidomide using a dual cyclodextrin system in capillary electrophoresis.

A previously developed capillary electrophoresis method for the simultaneous separation and enantioseparation of thalidomide (TD) and its hydroxylated metabolites was extended to one additional biotransformation product. The dual chiral selector system using native beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) and the negatively charged sulfobutyl-beta-CD (SBE-beta-CD) was slightly modified up to a concentration of 12 mg/ml running buffer of each CD. The carrier mode in which these buffer additives transport the neutral compounds to the detector as well as the use of a polyacrylamide-coated capillary were necessary to achieve reproducible enantioseparations of all eight analytes.

Investigation of the stereoselective in vitro biotransformation of thalidomide using a dual cyclodextrin system in capillary electrophoresis.

A previously developed capillary electrophoresis method for the simultaneous separation and enantioseparation of thalidomide (TD) and its hydroxylated metabolites was extended to one additional biotransformation product. The dual chiral selector system using native beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) and the negatively charged sulfobutyl ether-beta-CD (SBE-beta-CD) was slightly modified up to a concentration of 12 mg/mL running buffer of each CD. The carrier mode in which these buffer additives transport the neutral compounds to the detector as well as the use of a polyacrylamide-coated capillary were necessary to achieve reproducible enantioseparations of all eight analytes. The optimized method was applied to the analysis of the in vitro biotransformation of TD by rat liver microsomes. The S-enantiomer undergoes metabolism preferentially by hydroxylation in the phthalimide ring, whereas R-(+)-TD is mainly transformed to diastereomeric 5'-hydroxythalidomide (5'-OH-TD) pairs. The chiral capillary electrophoresis of incubation samples of TD enantiomers in combination with X-ray diffraction data allowed us to determine the absolute configuration of all metabolites and furthermore to follow the enantio- and stereoselective effects of metabolism in detail.

Simultaneous separation and enantioseparation of thalidomide and its hydroxylated metabolites using high-performance liquid chromatography in common-size columns, capillary liquid chromatography and nonaqueous capillary electrochromatography.

The separation of thalidomide (TD) and its hydroxylated metabolites including their simultaneous enantioseparation was studied using three different polysaccharide-type chiral stationary phases (CSPs) in combination with polar organic mobile phases. Three different techniques, high-performance liquid chromatography in common-size columns, capillary LC and nonaqueous capillary electrochromatography were compared in terms of separation. As this study illustrates, polar organic mobile phases represent a valuable extension for less polar and polar aqueous-organic mobile phases in combination with polysaccharide CSPs. Chiralpak AD consisting of 25% of amylose-tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) coated on wide-pore aminopropylsilanized silica gel exhibited higher resolving ability compared to the similar cellulose derivative (Chiralcel OD) as well as to cellulose-tris(4-methylbenzoate) (Chiralcel OJ) CSPs for this particular set of chiral analytes. Baseline separation and simultaneous enantioseparation of all three compounds could be achieved under optimized separation conditions.

Enantioseparation of thalidomide and its hydroxylated metabolites using capillary electrophoresis with various cyclodextrins and their combinations as chiral buffer additives.

The separation of thalidomide (TD) and its hydroxylated metabolites including their simultaneous enantioseparation was studied in capillary electrophoresis (CE) using four different randomly substituted charged cyclodextrin (CD) derivatives, the combinations of some of them with each other, and beta-CD. TD, as well as two metabolites recently found in incubations of human liver microsomes and human blood, 5-hydroxythalidomide (5-OH-TD) and one of the diastereomeric 5'-hydroxythalidomides (5'-OH-TD), are neutral compounds. Therefore, they were resolved using charged chiral selectors in CE. Two different separation modes (normal polarity and carrier mode) and two different capillaries (fused-silica and polyacrylamide-coated) were tested. Based on the behavior of the individual CDs, their designed combinations were selected in order to improve the separation selectivity and enantioselectivity. Under optimized conditions all three chiral compounds and their enantiomers were resolved simultaneously.

Investigation of the in vitro biotransformation of R-(+)-thalidomide by HPLC, nano-HPLC, CEC and HPLC--APCI-MS.

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), nano-HPLC, capillary electrochromatography (CEC) and on-line HPLC-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (APCI-MS) techniques were used for the identification and detailed characterization of two new metabolites of the former sedative drug thalidomide (TD). The advantages of nano-HPLC and CEC are higher peak efficiency and a drastic decrease in the analysis time, which, together with lower sample dilution during the analyses, allowed to obtain a detection sensitivity that was comparable to HPLC with common-sized columns. Both, nano-HPLC and CEC could be realized in the commercially available capillary electrophoresis system HP3D. On-line HPLC-APCI-MS coupling is a very useful technique for the rapid identification of metabolites without any need for reference compounds.