Development of Poly (Methyl vinyl ether-alt-maleic acid) Microneedles for Transdermal Delivery of Atorvastatin Calcium.

AIMS: Biodegradable polymeric microneedles containing atorvastatin calcium were developed in order to improve the percutaneous absorption of the drug, useful for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. BACKGROUND: The use of physical enhancers like microneedles have shown good results to increase the delivery of drugs through the skin, the use of microneedles has very important advantages for transdermal drug delivery, for example, they are painless, easy to use and safe, they increase time interval of drug activity, dose, and reductions in adverse reactions, they also offer, the facility to remove the system instantly of the skin. OBJECTIVE: Develop polymer microneedles loaded with a calcium atorvastatin and evaluate them by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), bioadhesion, postwetting- bioadhesion, breaking strength, drug release test and in vitro percutaneous absorption studies to demonstrate the use of microneedles atorvastatin is able to cross the skin. METHODS: The microneedles were made with poly (methyl vinyl ether-alt-maleic acid) as biodegradable polymer using the technique of casting in solution in a mold. After solidification these microneedles were characterized by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), bioadhesion, post-wetting-bioadhesion, breaking strength, drug release test and in vitro percutaneous absorption studies. RESULTS: In general, the performances were satisfactory for optimal formulation in terms of DSC with no interactions between drug and excipients, SEM shows microneedles with a conical shape, bioadhesion of 1570 g.f, post wetting-bioadhesion of 1503.4 g.f, breaking strength of 1566.7g.f that is sufficient to disrupt Stratum corneum, good drug release and a flux of 33.4 µg/cm2*h with a tLag of 15.14 h for the in vitro percutaneous absorption. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that it is possible to generate microneedles to increase the percutaneous absorption of calcium atorvastatin transdermally, with the potential to be used as an alternative to the oral route for the treatment of dyslipidemias.

Nanoparticle infiltration to prepare solvent-free controlled drug delivery systems.

The purpose of this work was to propose a drug delivery system based on a biodegradable porous membrane, whose surface is covered by a nanoparticle film, thus achieving a controlled drug release rate. Furthermore, due to the fact that the assembly of the system is performed in aqueous medium, contact with organic solvents is avoided. The method is performed in two steps: (i) preparation of biodegradable porous membranes (by a solvent casting and particulate leaching technique) and biodegradable nanoparticles (by the emulsification-diffusion method), extensively eliminating the solvent in both of them; (ii) infiltration into membranes of an aqueous solution of a model drug (carbamazepine) and a nanoparticle dispersion. In both cases, poly(DL-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA 50:50) was used as a biodegradable polymer. Carbamazepine adsorbed onto biodegradable porous membranes shows an immediate release behavior (95% released in <15 min). Infiltration of different amounts of nanoparticles (50, 100, 400 and 600 mg of nanoparticles/0.625 g of membrane) into biodegradable porous membranes shows a Fickian diffusion according to Peppas model, and fits Higuchi's model. This behavior was attributed to the diffusional barrier constituted by the nanoparticle film. As expected, the carbamazepine release rate was dependent on the amount of infiltrated/adsorbed nanoparticles into biodegradable porous membrane. DSC studies show molecular dispersion of the drug throughout the membrane.