RESUMO
The intravaginal route of administration can be exploited to treat local diseases and for systemic delivery. In this work, we developed an alginate/chitosan membrane sufficiently stable in a simulated vaginal fluid and able to dissolve over time at a very slow and linear rate. The membrane demonstrated good mechanical properties both in its swollen and dry form. As a study case, we evaluated the viability of this potential drug delivery system for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis, a common disease affecting women in their reproductive age. Metronidazole was effectively included in the alginate/chitosan membrane and its bactericide effect was demonstrated against Staphylococcus aureus and Gardnerella vaginalis, simultaneously showing good biocompatibility with a cervix epithelial cell line. Since this alginate/chitosan membrane is stable in a simulated vaginal environment, is easy to fabricate and can be used for the controlled release of a model drug, it represents a promising drug delivery system for local intravaginal applications.
Assuntos
Administração Intravaginal , Alginatos/química , Antibacterianos/administração & dosagem , Quitosana/química , Sistemas de Liberação de Medicamentos , Metronidazol/administração & dosagem , Vaginose Bacteriana/tratamento farmacológico , Adesividade , Materiais Biocompatíveis , Colo do Útero/efeitos dos fármacos , Força Compressiva , Células Epiteliais/efeitos dos fármacos , Feminino , Gardnerella vaginalis/efeitos dos fármacos , Humanos , Hidrogéis/química , Cinética , Membranas Artificiais , Microscopia Confocal , Staphylococcus aureus/efeitos dos fármacos , Estresse Mecânico , Vagina/efeitos dos fármacosRESUMO
Assessing physical stability of drugs is important both in the development as well as in the production phase in the pharmaceutical industry. We used nanomechanical infrared (NAM-IR) spectroscopy based on photothermal response of a nanomechanical resonator, to investigate the solid state forms of tadalafil (TAD), under various storage conditions in sub-micron thin films. The amorphous TAD was stable, when kept at normal storage conditions of 24⯰C, 45% relative humidity (RH) and shielded from light, however, it crystallized after four days when it was at stress storage conditions (40⯰C, 70% RH, and direct sunlight). Additionally, we found that the signals recorded with NAM-IR were comparable with the attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and that NAM-IR proved to be a suitable and time efficient method when evaluating TAD in sub 500â¯nm layers.