Nanocarriers can potentially enhance the therapeutic efficacy of drugs by controlling the release of active drug ingredients, reducing their systemic side effects, and improving patient compliance with regimens by reducing dosage and administration frequency. By studying the release mechanism of nanocarriers, CD Formulation can provide customers with nanocarrier drug release research and testing services, assisting the development and clinical application of nanocarrier drugs.
Nanocarriers include nanoparticles, dendrimers, and polymer or lipid carriers, such as liposomes. Nanocarriers are useful transport agents because of their small size and ability to change physical properties, such as charge and shape, to deliver active drugs into tissues. Nanocarriers serve as transport vehicles and determine the pharmacokinetics of transport and distribution. The advantages of using nanocarriers are as follows:
Fig.1 Different types of pharmaceutical nanocarriers for drug delivery. (Jinhyun Hannah Lee, et al. 2015)
Nanocarrier drug release is to maintain the drug concentration in the blood or target tissue at an effective level, and various mechanisms drive the drug to be released from the carriers.
Diffusion-controlled drug release is carried out in capsule-type reservoir systems, where the drug is dissolved or dispersed in a core surrounded by a polymeric membrane, and drug diffusion is driven through the difference in its concentration across the membrane. We first dissolve the drug in a core surrounded by a polymeric membrane, and then the drug diffuses across the cell membrane.
The transport of solvent into the drug carrier affects the drug release behavior from the carrier. And the solvent-controlled release includes osmosis-controlled release and swell-controlled release.
Osmosis-controlled release occurs in a covered carrier with a semipermeable polymer membrane through which water can flow from the outside of the carrier to the drug-loaded core. That is to say, it flows from low drug concentration to high drug concentration, maintaining a constant concentration gradient across the membrane, thereby generating a zero-order release curve.
Swelling-controlled release is when a glassy hydrophilic polymer system is placed in an aqueous solution containing body fluids, and the absorption of water causes the polymer particles to swell, followed by drug release. Swelling-controlled systems may achieve zero-order drug release, with the rate of drug release determined by the diffusion rate of water and the chain relaxation rate of the polymer.
Degradation-controlled release includes biodegradable polymers, (such as polyesters, polyamides, polyamino acids) and polysaccharides release the drug through hydrolysis and/or enzymatic degradation of ester, amide, and hydrazone linkages in their backbones. The drug release kinetics are determined by the degradation rate of polymers, which is up to their molecular weight, end groups, monomer composition, and crystallinity.
The drug release from responsive nanocarriers is regulated by internal or external stimuli like temperature, pH, ionic strength, sound, and electric or magnetic. The application of these carriers for delivering drugs to specific targets has been extensively researched and investigated due to their capability to concentrate stimuli.
Fig.2 Drug release mechanisms utilized in nanocarriers. (Jinhyun Hannah Lee, et al. 2015)
We can offer drug release from different nanocarrier testing services relying on our rich experience in exploring and researching on mechanism of drug release from nanocarriers by the following testing methods.
Fig.3 Our different nanocarrier drug release testing methods. (CD Formulation)
Technology: Laser desorption/ionization MS imaging strategy for evaluation of in vivo and in situ drug release of nanocarriers
Journal: Science Advances
IF: 13.6
Published: 2018
Results:
The authors developed a novel label-free laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MS) imaging strategy to visualize and quantify in situ drug release in tissues by monitoring the intrinsic MS signal intensity ratio of drug-loaded drugs on nanocarriers. By studying the doxorubicin (DOX)/polyethylene glycol-MoS nanosheet drug delivery system in tumor mouse models. This new strategy opens new avenues for studying in vivo and in situ drug release from drug carrier systems such as carbon nanotubes and black phosphorus nanosheets and for evaluating drug release from nanocarriers at the suborgan level. Here is the evaluation of in vivo and in situ drug release of MoS2 nanocarriers.
Fig.4 Biodistribution and drug release studies of DOX/PEG-MoS2 revealed by LDI MSI. (Jinjuan Xue, et al. 2018)
As a leader in the development and clinical transformation of nanoformulation, CD Formulation has deeply explored and studied various possible releases of nanocarriers and in vitro release pharmacokinetic mechanisms and can provide drug release form nanocarrier testing and in vitro release pharmacokinetics for global nanoformulation researchers. If you are interested in our services, please contact us via phone or email.
References