• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.417-424
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• 2024

Background: This research main objective was to evaluate a proliposomes (PLs) formulation for the enhancement of oral bioavailability of ginsenosides, using ginsenoside Rg3 (Rg3) as a marker. Methods: A novel PLs formulation was prepared using a modified evaporation-on-matrix method. Soy phosphatidylcholine, Rg3-enriched extract, poloxamer 188 (Lutrol® F 68) and sorbitol were mixed and dissolved using a aqueous ethanolic solution, followed by the removal of ethanol and lyophilization. The characterization of Rg3-PLs formulations was performed by powder X-ray diffractometry (PXRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and in vitro release. The enhancement of oral bioavailability was investigated and analyzed by noncompartmental parameters after oral administration of the formulations. Results: PXRD of Rg3-PLs indicated that Rg3 was transformed from crystalline into its amorphous form during the preparation process. The Rg3-encapsulated liposomes with vesicular-shaped morphology were generated after the reconstitution by gentle hand-shaking in water; they had a mean diameter of approximately 350 nm, a negative zeta potential (- 28.6 mV) and a high entrapment efficiency (97.3%). The results of the in vitro release study exhibited that significantly more amount of Rg3 was released from the PLs formulation in comparison with that from the suspension of Rg3-enriched extract (control group). The pharmacokinetic parameters after oral administration of PLs formulation in rats showed an approximately 11.8-fold increase in the bioavailability of Rg3, compared to that of the control group. Conclusion: The developed PLs formulation could be a favorable delivery system to improve the oral bioavailability of ginsenosides, including Rg3.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.505-512
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• 2011

Psolarea corylifolia extract that contains bakuchiol is known to have anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and anti-scarring effects. In this study, a vesicles such as liposome, niosome, and transfersome were produced to encapsulate P. corylifolia extract and measured their stability and physiochemical property. The skin permeation and partitioning of P. corylifolia extract in the vesicles were elucidated in nude mouse skin by using Franz diffusion cells after topical application for 24 h. After storage at 25, 40, $70^{\circ}C$, and light, the stability of bakuchiol incorporated into the vesicles was maintained for 30 days. The optimal concentration of P. corylifolia extract entrapped into the vesicles was found to be 5~10%. From the physicochemical studies, after storage at 4, 25, and $40^{\circ}C$, the viscosity and particle size of the vesicles remained in 30~80 cP and the nanosize range for 6 months, respectively. From the permeation experiments, niosome showed a higher amount of bakuchiol permeated through the mouse skin compared to liposome and transfersome after 24 h. From these results, niosome and transfersome could be a good bioavailability enhancement system (BAES) for P. corylifolia extract to improve the skin permeation and stability.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.295-301
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• 1997

Nitrendipine, a slightly soluble calcium channel blocking agent forms a solid dispersion system with $hydroxypropyl-{\beta}-cyclodextrin$, which exhibits better dissolution characteristics than the uncomplexed drug. The dissolution rate of nitrendipine was markedly increased in solid dispersion system in pharmacopeial disintegration media at pH 1.2 and pH 6.8. Four different dosage forms of nitrendipine were administered to rats: (a) nitrendipine in the solution of PEG 400; (b) nitrendipine solid dispersion system with $hydroxypropyl-{\beta}-cyclodextrin$ in a molar ratio of 1:2 by solvent evaporation method and administered in capsule form; (c) physical mixture of nitrendipine with $hydroxypropyl-{\beta}-cyclodextrin$ in a molar ratio of 1:2 and administered in capsule form; (d) nitrendipine alone administered in capsule form. Relative bioavailability after the oral administration of various dosage forms to rats with a dose of 10 mg/kg equivalent to nitrendipine was compared with that of nitrendipine in the solution of PEG 400. The AUC of solid dispersion was significantly bigger than that of nitrendipine powder. $T_{max}$ of solid dispersion was significantly shorter and $C_{max}$ was higher than that of nitrendipine powder. These results indicate that the bioavailability of nitrendipine could be improved markedly by inclusion complexation. An interesting correlation also appears to exist between the in vitro dissolution data and the area under the plasma concentration-time curves.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.604-611
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• 2005

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) 6000-based solid dispersions (SDs), by incorporating various pharmaceutical excipients or microemulsion systems, were prepared using a fusion method, t o compare the dissolution rates and bioavailabilities in rats. The amorphous structure of the drug in SDs was also characterized by powder X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The ketoconazole (KT), as an antifungal agent, was selected as a model drug. The dissolution rate of KT increased when solubilizing excipients were incorporated into the PEG-based SDs. When hydrophilic and lipophilic excipients were combined and incorporated into PEG-based SDs, a remarkable enhancement of the dissolution rate was observed. The PEG-based SDs, incorporating a self microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) or microemulsion (ME), were also useful at improving the dissolution rate by forming a microemulsion or dispersible particles within the aqueous medium. However, due to the limited solubilization capacity, these PEG-based SDs showed dissolution rates, below 50% in this study, under sink conditions. The PEG-based SD, with no pharmaceutical excipients incorporated, increased the maximum plasma concentration (C$_{max}$) and area under the plasma concentration curve (AUC$_{0-6h}$) two-fold compared to the drug only. The bioavailability was more pronounced in the cases of solubilizing and microemulsifying PEG-based SDs. The thermograms of the PEG-based SDs showed the characteristic peak of the carrier matrix around 60$^{\circ}C$, without a drug peak, indicating that the drug had changed into an amorphous structure. The diffraction pattern of the pure drug showed the drug to be highly crystalline in nature, as indicated by numerous distinctive peaks. The lack of the numerous distinctive peaks of the drug in the PEG-based SDs demonstrated that a high concentration of the drug molecules was dissolved in the solid-state carrier matrix of the amorphous structure. The utilization of oils, fatty acid and surfactant, or their mixtures, in PEG-based SD could be a useful tool to enhance the dissolution and bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs by forming solubilizing and microemulsifying systems when exposed to gastrointestinal fluid.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 2002

A self-microemulsifying drug delivery system(SMEDDS) composed of Cremophor $EL^{\circledR},\;Labrasol^{circledR}$, and Lauroglycol $FCC^{circledR}$ was prepared for the enhancement of solubility, dissolution rate and bioavailability of ibuprofen(IBP), which is water-insoluble but soluble in oils and surfactants. Phase diagram with various regions including microemulsion area was depicted. The SMEDDS was encapsulated in soft gelatin capsules and their dissolution characteristics in various media were observed in comparison to the generic products commercially available in the market. Soft capsules of SMEDDS formulation showed better dissolution profiles, especially in acidic condition, than the others. For the period of 1 hr dissolution in pH 1.2 medium, it reached over 70% dissolution from soft capsules, compared to less than 40% dissolution from commercial reference tablets. On the other hand, in vivo pharmacokinetic parameters were obtained after oral administrations of different IBP preparations to Sprague Dawley rats. SMEDDS formulation showed higher $C_{max}$ and greater $AUC_{0-5hr}$ than the suspension of reference tablet or IBP powder. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that a newly developed soft capsules employing SMEDDS provides an alternative preparation to improve oral bioavailability of IBP.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.339-347
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• 2007

SMEDDS is mixture of oils, surfactants, and cosurfactants, which are emulsified in aqueous media under conditions of gentle agitation and digestive motility that would be encountered in the gastro-intestinal(GI) tract. The main purpose of this work is to prepare self-microemulsifying drug delivery system(SMEDDS) for oral bioavailability enhancement of a poorly water soluble drug, atorvastatin calcium. Solubility of atorvastatin calcium was determined in various vehicles. Pseudo-ternary phase diagrams were constructed to identity the efficient self-emulsification region and particle size distributions of the resultant micro emulsions were determined using a laser diffraction sizer. Optimized formulations for in vitro dissolution and bioavailability assessment were $Capryol^{(R)}$ 90(50%), Tetraglycol(16%), and $Cremophor^{(R)}$ EL(32%). The release rate of atorvastatin from SMEDDS was significantly higher than the conventional tablet ($Lipitor^{(R)}$), 2-fold. Our studies illustrated the potential use of SMEDDS for the delivery of hydrophobic compounds, such as atorvastatin calcium by the oral route.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.125-142
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• 2011

Solid dispersion, defined as the dispersion of one or more active ingredient in a carrier or matrix at solid state, is an efficient strategy for improving dissolution of poorly water-soluble drugs for enhancement of their bioavailability. Compared to other conventional formulations such as tablets or capsules, solid dispersion which can be prepared by various methods has many advantages. However, despite numerous studies which have been carried out, limitations for commercializing these products remain to be solved. For example, during the manufacturing process or storage, amorphous form of solid dispersion can be converted into crystalline form. That is, the dissolution rate of solid dispersion would continuously decrease during storage, resulting in a product of no value. To resolve these problems, studies have been conducted on the effects of excipients. In fact, modification of the solid dispersions to overcome these disadvantages has progressed from the first generation to the recent third generation products. In this review, an overview on solid dispersions in general will be given with emphasis on the various manufacturing processes which include the use of polymers and on the stabilization strategies which include methods to prevent crystallization.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.362-368
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• 2008

High Hydrostatic Pressure assisted (HHP) process enhancement for food and allied industries are reported in this paper review. Recently, considerable research has been devoted to the improvement of mild thermal processing techniques and to the development of alternative mild processing technologies. HHP assisted can enhance existing extraction, processes and enable new commercial extraction opportunities and processes. New HHP processing approaches have been proposed, including, the potential for modification of plant cell material to provide improved bioavailability of micro nutrients while retaining the natural-like quality, simultaneous extraction. Therefore, High Hydrostatic Pressure assisted (HHP) technologies could have a strong presence in the future of the biotechnology industry.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.419-427
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• 1996

To solubilize practically insoluble biphenyl dimethyl dicarboxylate (DDB), which has been used for the treatment of chronic hepatitis as tablets or hard capsules, the solubilities of DDB in various hydrophilic, oily and hydrocarbon vehicles, and aqueous surfactant solutions were measured by high performance liquid chromatography. It was found that, among the vehicles studied, polyethylene glycol (PEG) 300 revealed the best solvency, and the solubility reached 17.6 mg/ml at 37$^{\circ}C$. The addition of glycyrrhizic acid ammonium salt (GAA) to DDB-PEG 300 solution (5-20 mg/g) inhibited the formation of precipitates, and at the concentration of 10 mg/g, any precipitaction was not observed even after 2 years at 4$^{\circ}C$. Furthermore, GAA markedly enhanced the permeation of DDB through the rabbit duodenal mucosa in a concentration dependent manner. The addition of copolyvidone (ca. 1.0%) to DDB-GAA-PEG 300 system (1 : 0.5 97.5 w/w) was most effective in preventing the considerable precipitation of DDB-PEG 300 solution (7.5 mg/750 mg) when mixed with water of 300-900 ml at 37$^{\circ}C$. GAA showed a synergistic effect in the prevention of precipitate formation. This finding suggests that this DDB formulation may form less precipitation when DDB soft capsules disintegrate and diffuse into the gastrointestinal fluid, resulting in improving the bioavailability Dissolution rate of DDB (7.5 mg) from sort elastic capsules of DDB-GAA-PEG 300 system was rapid. The supersaturation state was maintained for 2 hr at the concentration of 7.35$\pm$3.3 mg in 900 ml of water without precipitation. The total amount of DDB dissolved from this new formulation was 5.3 and 6.1 times higher, when compared to marketed DDB tablets (25 mg) and capsules (7.5 mg), respectively.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.157-163
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• 2006

A supercritical fluid process, called aerosol solvent extraction system(ASES), is especially suitable to the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries due to its environmentally-friendly, non-toxic and residual solvent-free properties. In particular, the application of the ASES process to the processing of thermo-labile bioactive compounds has received attention of many scientists and engineers because of its low-temperature operating conditions. Unstable substances such as Vitamin-C and Vitamin-A can be effectively protected from degradation during the preparation process, because the ASES process is free from oxygen and moisture. In this study, Vitamin-C was formulated with 2-hydroxypropyl-${\beta}$-cyclodextrin (HP-${\beta$-CD) for enhancement of Vitamin-C stability and bioavailability using the ASES process. To investigate the influence of the preparation process on the stability of Vitamin-C, Vitamin-C/HP-${\beta}$-CD inclusion complexes were prepared using both conventional solvent evaporation method and ASES process, and stored in a 50 mM phosphate buffer solution of pH 7.0 at $25^{\circ}C$ for 24 hours. From the experimental results, the stability of the Vitamin-C/HP-${\beta}$-CD inclusion complex prepared from the ASES process was found to be much higher than that of pure Vitamin-C and the Vitamin-C/HP-${\beta}$-CD inclusion complex prepared by the solvent evaporation method. The stability of Vitamin-C was observed to increase with the decrease of temperature at a constant pressure or with the increase of pressure at a constant temperature.