RESUMEN
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.
Asunto(s)
Administración Intravaginal , Alginatos/química , Antibacterianos/administración & dosificación , Quitosano/química , Sistemas de Liberación de Medicamentos , Metronidazol/administración & dosificación , Vaginosis Bacteriana/tratamiento farmacológico , Adhesividad , Materiales Biocompatibles , Cuello del Útero/efectos de los fármacos , Fuerza Compresiva , Células Epiteliales/efectos de los fármacos , Femenino , Gardnerella vaginalis/efectos de los fármacos , Humanos , Hidrogeles/química , Cinética , Membranas Artificiales , Microscopía Confocal , Staphylococcus aureus/efectos de los fármacos , Estrés Mecánico , Vagina/efectos de los fármacosRESUMEN
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.