Fractal and Polarization Properties of Light Scattering Using Microcrystalline Pharmaceutical Aggregates.

Fractal and polarization analysis of diffusively scattered light is applied to determine the complex relationship between fractal dimension of structural morphology and concentration of chemically active ingredients in two pharmaceutical mixture systems including a series of binary mixtures of acetaminophen in lactose and three multicomponent blends with a proprietary active ingredient. A robust approach is proposed to identify and filter out multiple- and single-scattering components of scattering indicatrix. The fractal dimension extracted from scattering field reveals complex structural details of the sample, showing strong dependence on low-dose drug concentration in the blend. Low-angle diffraction shows optical "halo" patterns near the angle of specular reflection caused by light refraction in microcrystalline aggregates. Angular measurements of diffuse reflection demonstrate noticeable dependence of Brewster's angle on drug concentration. It is shown that the acetaminophen microcrystals produce scattered light depolarization due to their optical birefringence. The light scattering measurement protocol developed for diffusively scattered light by microcrystalline pharmaceutical compositions provides a novel approach for the pattern recognition, analysis and classification of materials with a low concentration of active chemical ingredients.

Method transfer of a near-infrared spectroscopic method for blend uniformity in a poorly flowing and hygroscopic blend.

The challenges in transferring and executing a near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic method for croscarmellose (disintegrant) in binary blends for a continuous manufacturing (CM) process are presented. This work demonstrates the development of a NIR calibration model and its use to determine the blending parameters needed for binary blends at a development plant and later used to predict CM process blends. The calibration models were developed with laboratory scale powder blends ranging from 4.32%-64.77 (%w/w) of croscarmellose and evaluated using independent test blends. The selected model was then transferred to the continuous manufacturing development site to determine the croscarmellose concentration for spectra collected in real-time. A total of 18 development plant runs were monitored using an in-line NIR spectrometer, however, these spectra showed high baseline variations. The baseline variations were caused by the poor flow of the material within the system. An inconsistent bias which varied from 2.51 to 14.95 (%w/w) was observed in the predictions of croscarmellose. High baseline spectra were eliminated and the bias was significantly reduced by 42-51%. Experiments at lower flow rate speeds did not show significant changes in baseline and bias values showed more consistency. The calibration model was then transferred to two NIR spectrometers installed at-line at the commercial site, where powder samples were collected at the beginning middle and end of each CM plant run. The NIR calibration model predicted disintegrant concentration from the powder samples. Results showed the bias values for the NIR (1) varied from 0.74 to 2.21 (%w/w) and NIR (2) from 0.28 to 3.39 (%w/w). Average concentration values for both equipments were very close to the reference concentration values of 43.18 and 50.98 (%w/w). The study showed the model was able to identify flow issues, identified as baseline shifts, that could be used to alert to problems in the powder bed that may warrant diversion from a production line. These powder flow problems such as air gaps and inconsistent powder bed height affected the NIR spectra collected at the development plant and provided results with high bias. A lower bias was obtained in samples collected at line after blending.

Development of near infrared spectroscopic calibration models for in-line determination of low drug concentration, bulk density, and relative specific void volume within a feed frame.

This study describes the development of a near infrared (NIR) calibration model for real time determination of drug concentration, powder density, and porosity or relative specific void volume (RSVV) of 3.00%w/w acetaminophen blends within a feed frame. The NIR calibration model was developed from 1.50 to 4.50%w/w of acetaminophen, using a high variability of major excipients (from 12.92 to 81.95%w/w) which facilitates the prediction of powder density and RSVV based on near infrared calibration spectra. The model using second derivative as spectral preprocessing explained the changes related to acetaminophen concentration in the first latent variable. The second latent variable was related to changes in concentration of microcrystalline cellulose and lactose in the powder blends. NIR calibrations were also developed based on the bulk density and RSVV of the powder blends using the same design as the API model, due to the physical properties of the particles and their effects on the NIR spectra. The RSVV was predicted for the independent set blends with an RSEP(%) below 4% with a significantly low bias (0.04 cm3/g) from reference values of 1.33 to 1.58 cm3/g. The bulk density model also exhibited excellent predictions with RSEP(%) below 2.6% and significantly low bias (0.01 g/cm3) from reference values of 0.45 to 0.51 g/cm3. The excellent results obtained show the potential of near infrared spectroscopic measurements within the feed frame for a Process Analytical Technology method to control the critical properties such as tablet mass, hardness and dissolution in batch and continuous manufacturing processes.

A molecular docking study of the interactions between human transferrin and seven metallocene dichlorides.

Human Transferrin (hTf) is a metal-binding protein found in blood plasma and is well known for its role in iron delivery. With only a 30% of its capacity for Fe+3 binding, this protein has the potential ability to transport other metal ions or organometallic compounds from the blood stream to all cell tissues. In this perspective, recent studies have described seven metallocene dichlorides (Cp2M(IV)Cl2, M(IV)=V, Mo, W, Nb, Ti, Zr, Hf) suitable as anticancer drugs and less secondary effects than cisplatin. However, these studies have not provided enough data to clearly explain how hTf binds and transports these organometallic compounds into the cells. Thus, a computational docking study with native apo-hTf using Sybyl-X 2.0 program was conducted to explore the binding modes of these seven Cp2M(IV)Cl2 after their optimization and minimization using Gaussian 09. Our model showed that the first three Cp2M(IV)Cl2 (M(IV)=V, Mo, W) can interact with apo-hTf on a common binding site with the amino acid residues Leu-46, Ile-49, Arg-50, Leu-66, Asp-69, Ala-70, Leu-72, Ala-73, Pro-74 and Asn-75, while the next four Cp2M(IV)Cl2 (M(IV)=Nb, Ti, Zr, Hf) showed different binding sites, unknown until now. A decreasing order in the total score (equal to -log Kd) was observed from these docking studies: W (5.4356), Mo (5.2692), Nb (5.1672), V (4.5973), Ti (3.6529), Zr (2.0054) and Hf (1.8811). High and significant correlation between the affinity of these seven ligands (metallocenes) for apo-hTf and their bond angles CpMCp (r=0.94, p<0.01) and Cl-M-Cl (r=0.95, p<0.01) were observed, thus indicating the important role that these bond angles can play in ligand-protein interactions. Fluorescence spectra of apo-hTf, measured at pH 7.4, had a decrease in the fluorescence emission spectrum with increasing concentration of Cp2M(IV)Cl2. Experimental data has a good correlation between KA (r=0.84, p=0.027) and Kd (r=0.94, p=0.0014) values and the calculated total scores obtained from our docking experiments. In conclusion, these results suggest that the seven Cp2M(IV)Cl2 used for this study can interact with apo-hTf, and their affinity was directly and inversely proportional to their bond angles CpMCp and ClMCl, respectively. Our docking studies also suggest that the binding of the first three Cp2M(IV)Cl2 (M(IV)=V, Mo, W) to hTf could abrogate the formation of the hTf-receptor complex, and as a consequence the metallocene-hTf complex might require another transport mechanism in order to get into the cell.

Near infrared spectroscopic calibration models for real time monitoring of powder density.

Near infrared spectroscopic (NIRS) calibration models for real time prediction of powder density (tap, bulk and consolidated) were developed for a pharmaceutical formulation. Powder density is a critical property in the manufacturing of solid oral dosages, related to critical quality attributes such as tablet mass, hardness and dissolution. The establishment of calibration techniques for powder density is highly desired towards the development of control strategies. Three techniques were evaluated to obtain the required variation in powder density for calibration sets: 1) different tap density levels (for a single component), 2) generating different strain levels in powders blends (and as consequence powder density), through a modified shear Couette Cell, and 3) applying normal forces during a compressibility test with a powder rheometer to a pharmaceutical blend. For each variation in powder density, near infrared spectra were acquired to develop partial least squares (PLS) calibration models. Test samples were predicted with a relative standard error of prediction of 0.38%, 7.65% and 0.93% for tap density (single component), shear and rheometer respectively. Spectra obtained in real time in a continuous manufacturing (CM) plant were compared to the spectra from the three approaches used to vary powder density. The calibration based on the application of different strain levels showed the greatest similarity with the blends produced in the CM plant.

Water soluble molybdenocene complexes: synthesis, cytotoxic activity and binding studies to ubiquitin by fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism and molecular modeling.

Four new molybdenocene complexes, Cp2Mo(l-ascorbato), Cp2Mo(6-O-palmitoyl-l-ascorbato), [Cp2Mo(ethyl maltolato)]Cl and Cp2Mo((2S)-2-amino-3-methyl-3-thiolato-butanoato), were synthesized and structurally characterized by standard analytical methods. The cytotoxicity of these complexes was assessed on colon HT-29 and breast MCF-7 cancer cell lines using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. A higher cytotoxic activity was shown by all the new complexes on the MCF-7 cells over the Cp2MoCl2 complex. The complexes Cp2Mo(l-ascorbato), Cp2Mo(6-O-palmitoyl-l-ascorbato) and [Cp2Mo(ethyl maltolato)]Cl displayed a stronger cytotoxic activity on colon cancer HT-29 cell line, over the molybdenocene dichloride (Cp2MoCl2). In contrast, Cp2Mo((2S)-2-amino-3-methyl-3-thiolato-butanoato) exhibited proliferative properties on this cell line. Ubiquitin (Ub)-molybdenocene interactions were investigated using cyclic voltammetry, fluorescence quenching spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) and molecular modeling. The thermodynamic parameters (ΔH and ΔS) obtained using fluorescence quenching spectra and van't Hoff plot indicate the Ub-molybdenocene interactions are mainly hydrophobic. The CD data also support hydrophobic interactions with conformational changes in the Ub protein. Docking studies using molecular modeling revealed the amino acids involved in the Ub-molybdenocene interactions and corroborated the hydrophobic nature of the binding combined with hydrogen bonding.

New tungstenocenes containing 3-hydroxy-4-pyrone ligands: antiproliferative activity on HT-29 and MCF-7 cell lines and binding to human serum albumin studied by fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular modeling methods.

Three new water-soluble tungstenocene derivatives were synthesized and characterized using 3-hydroxy-4-pyrone ligands, which provide aqueous stability to the complexes. The antiproliferative activities of the complexes on HT-29 colon cancer and MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines were evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay and showed the new tungstenocene derivatives have higher antiproliferative action than tungstenocene dichloride (Cp(2)WCl(2), where Cp is cyclopentadienyl). The binding interactions of the tungstenocenes with human serum albumin (HSA) were investigated using fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular modeling methods. Analysis of the fluorescence quenching spectra indicates that the tungstenocene complexes bind HSA by hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonding at fatty acid binding site 6 and drug binding site II. Docking studies provided a description of the hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonding by which the tungstenocenes become engaged with HSA. It was determined that the binding affinity of the tungstenoecenes for HSA is in the order Cp(2)WCl(2) < [Cp(2)W(ethyl maltolato)]Cl < [Cp(2)W(maltolato)]Cl < [Cp(2)W(kojato)]Cl, consistent with the hydrophobic interactions and the number of hydrogen bonds involved.

Theoretical targets for TCDD: a bioinformatics approach.

Dioxins are a group of highly toxic molecules that exert their toxicity through the activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). The most important agonist of the AhR, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is a highly toxic compound. Although most of the effects related to TCDD exposure have been linked to the activation of AhR, the objective of this work was to use a bioinformatics approach to identify possible new targets for TCDD. The Target Fishing Docking (TarFisDock) Server was used to find target proteins for TCDD. This virtual screening allowed the identification of binding sites with high affinity for TCDD in diverse proteins, such as metallopeptidases 8 and 3, oxidosqualene cyclase, and myeloperoxidase. Some of these proteins are well known for their biochemical role in some pathological effects of dioxin exposure, including endometriosis, diabetes, inflammation and liver damage. These results suggest that TCDD could also be interacting with cellular targets though AhR-independent pathways.