Prevalence of ethanol and other potentially harmful excipients in pediatric oral medicines: survey of community pharmacies in a Nigerian City.

OBJECTIVE: Excipients are needed in the formulation of oral liquid medicines intended for children; they have however been reported to trigger safety issues. This study evaluated the concentrations and prevalence of ethanol and other potentially harmful excipients in pediatric formulations marketed in South Eastern Nigeria in line with international labeling guidelines and allowable daily limits (ADL). The study sampled oral pediatric formulations offered for sale in registered pharmacies. Those with accessible information leaflets were assessed for the presence and quantity of previously flagged excipients with potential to harm the pediatric population. RESULT: Of the 380 oral pediatric medicines, 140 provided access to list/quantity of ingredients. 47.9% (67) of the formulations contain at least one of the flagged excipients while the remaining only listed the active ingredients. Ethanol had the highest occurrence (62.7%) and was more in cough/cold medicines. A homeopathic cough and cold remedy had concentration of 90% v/v. Ethanol and sucrose in some formulations exhibited concentrations with a potential of crossing their approved daily intake (ADI) (1-90% v/v and 1.7 g-3.7 g/5 ml respectively). Ethanol use in studied pediatric formulations was quite high, with ethanol-containing formulations being prescribed for children 0-6 years and older. Only 26 (38.8%) completely satisfied the labelling requirements for ethanol containing formulations.

[Determination of polysorbate 80 in Reduning injection by HGPC-ELSD].

OBJECTIVE: To establish the method for determining polysorbate 80 in Reduning injection by HPLC-ELSD, and to control the mass of polysorbate 80 in Reduning injection. METHOD: It was performed by HGPC-ELSD with TOSHTSK-GEL G4000PWxl (7.8 mm x 300 mm, 10 µm). Water was used as mobile phase, the flow rate was 0.7 mL x min(-1), and the temperature was set at 30°C. The evaporated light scattering detector was adopted. The drift tube temperature was 55°C, and nitrogen was used as carrier gas, with the flow rate of 2.0 L x min(-1) and gain of 1.0. RESULT: The calibration curve showed good linearity of polysorbate 80 in the test range from 1.01 to 15.20 g x L(-1) (r2 = 0.999 3). The recovery rate was 98.10% with RSD of 2.0%. CONCLUSION: The method is simple, rapid, accurate and reliable and suitable for the determination of polysorbate 80 in Reduning injection.

Microencapsulation of essential oil for insect repellent in food packaging system.

Microcapsules containing thyme oil were prepared by in situ polymerization, using melamine-formaldehyde prepolymer as a wall material and 3 different emulsifiers (pluronic F-127, tween 80, and sodium lauryl sulfate [SLS]). The general characteristics and release behavior of microcapsules, and their repellent effect against insects were investigated. The morphology of microcapsules using SLS was spherical shape with smooth surface. Microcapsules began to degrade at 150 °C. The particle size ranged from 1 to 10 µm and the loading efficiency of thyme oil was clearly affected by the emulsifier type. The highest loading efficiency appeared in microcapsules using SLS, which have good thermal resistance and smooth surface. The release rate of thyme oil from microcapsules was not only dependent on the storage temperature but also emulsifier type and microcapsules showed the sustained release properties for a long time. Diets, which were mixed with encapsulated thyme oil, expressed high insect repellent efficacy over 90% for 4 wk.

Development of a size-exclusion HPLC method with evaporative light-scattering detection for the quantitation of polysorbate 80 in Houttuynia cordata injection.

A rapid and accurate size-exclusion HPLC method for the quantitation of polysorbate 80 (PS80) in Houttuynia cordata injection, a Chinese traditional medicine, was developed and validated. The assay was conducted on an Agilent 1100 HPLC system with a TosoHaas TSKgel G2000 SWxL column (30 cm x 7.8 mm, 5 pm particle size) and an Alltech evaporative light-scattering detector (ELSD) 2000. The mobile phase was 20 mmoL/L ammonium acetate-acetonitrile (90 + 10, v/v) delivered at a flow rate of 0.6 mL/min under isocratic conditions. The ELSD was operated in the impactor "off" mode, the drift tube temperature was set at 110 degrees C, and nitrogen flow was maintained at 2.3 L/min. The LOD was 0.25 mg/mL. Linearity was obtained between the log of concentration (C) and the log of peak area (Y) of PS80 in the range of 0.5-20 mg/mL according to the equation: Log Y 1.4529 Log C - 0.8232 (r2 = 0.9976). An RSD of 1.6% (n = 6) for the determination demonstrated the good precision of the optimized method. PS80 content in several commercial H. cordata injection products from different manufacturers was determined. The data for PS80 content is useful in evaluation of the safety of the products from different manufacturers.

Preparation and pH stability of ferrous glycinate liposomes.

Ferrous glycinate liposomes were prepared by reverse phase evaporation method. The effects of cholesterol, Tween 80, ferrous glycinate concentration, hydrating medium, pH of hydrating medium, and sonication strength on the encapsulation efficiency of liposomes were investigated. Encapsulation efficiency was significantly influenced by the different technique parameters. Ferrous glycinate liposomes might be obtained with high encapsulation efficiency of 84.80% under the conditions of optimized technique parameters. The zeta potential and average particle size of liposomes in the hydrating medium of pH 7.0 were 9.6 mV and 559.2 nm, respectively. The release property of ferrous glycinate liposomes in vitro was investigated in simulated gastrointestinal juice. A small amount of ferrous glycinate was released from liposomes in the first 4 h in simulated gastrointestinal juice. The mean diameters of liposomes increased from 559.2 to 692.9, 677.8, and 599.3 nm after incubation in simulated gastrointestinal juice of pH 1.3, 7.5, and 7.5 in the presence of bile salts, respectively. Results showed that the stability of ferrous glycinate in strong acid environment was greatly improved by encapsulation in liposomes, which protected ferrous glycinate from disrupting the extracapsular environment by lipid bilayer. The bioavailability of ferrous glycinate, as the iron source for biological activity including hemoglobin formation, may be increased. The ferrous glycinate liposomes may be a kind of promising iron fortifier.

Analysis of polysorbate and its polyoxyethylated metabolite.

Polysorbates are used as emulsifiers in a number of pharmaceuticals and have been implicated as the possible toxic agent in the neonatal vitamin supplement, E-Ferol. In the investigation of the toxicity of this compound, it was necessary to find a method to separate and quantitate polysorbate and its polyoxyethylated metabolite from biological fluids. A high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed which combines the use of a 500 A mu Styragel size exclusion column with an ammonium cobaltothiocyanate complexation column and detection at 620 or 320 nm. The detection limit is approximately 5 micrograms. The method was used to demonstrate that polysorbate was metabolized in vitro by hepatocytes and that the urinary metabolite in humans is comparable to that produced by the rat.

Determination of polysorbate in ascites fluid from a premature infant.

A method is described for the determination of poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl)oligomers in body fluids using ammonium cobaltothiocyanate complexation in conjunction with high pressure liquid chromatography and visible spectrophotometry. Analysis of peritoneal fluid from a baby given E-ferol, a vitamin E supplement, revealed levels as high as 100 micrograms/mL polysorbate.