Drug loading refers to the ratio of the amount of drug loaded to the amount of carrier nanomedicine (drug amount and carrier amount). Using nanocarriers (just like nanoparticles) as drug delivery systems requires precise quantification of drug loading. CD Formulation can determine drug loading for nanomedicines to meet customers' different quality requirements.
Drug loading is the mass ratio of drug to drug-loaded nanoparticles, and it is a critical parameter in developing drug-loaded nanoparticles. The drug loading capacity can determine the percentage of the drug in the preparation, which is of practical value for the industrial production of liposomes and others. In addition, the size of the drug loading capacity directly affects the clinical application dosage of the drug. The larger the drug loading capacity, the easier it is to meet clinical needs.
After years of experiments, researchers have found that increasing the drug loading capacity can increase the stability of nanoparticles and change the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic properties of nanoformulations.
Therefore, we greatly value the control and research of drug loading capacity in nanoformulation development, to obtain nanoformulations with high drug loading capacity and thereby improve bioavailability.
As drug carriers, nanoparticles are very important to improve drug loading capacity and achieve quantification of drug loading. CD Formulation generally uses a suitable organic solvent to dissolve the microsphere skeleton material or other types of drug-loaded nanoparticles, and then separate or extract the drug for detection. Finally, the drug loading capacity was calculated through the equation formula.
We can promptly address your drug-loading testing needs and offer our professional drug-loading testing proposal in just three simple steps.
Fig.1 Our nanoformulation drug loading testing process. (CD Formulation)
Accurate quantification of drug loading is necessary for nanoparticles to be used as drug delivery systems, and we have direct and indirect methods based on the measurement of drug loading in nanoparticles.
For direct methods, the drug is first extracted from the loaded particles with a suitable solvent. The particles are then pelleted and the drug in the supernatant is assayed.
In this method, fresh drug-loaded solutions are prepared and measured before adding nanoparticles. The suspension is stirred and at the end of the loading process, the particles are separated from the loading solution, usually by centrifugation or filtration, and the remaining drug in the supernatant is measured. Finally, the amount of drug in the nanoparticles is calculated through mass balance.
Technology: UV–VIS spectroscopy
Journal: Materials & Design
IF: 8.4
Published: 2019
Results:
The authors performed chloramphenicol experiments to demonstrate the drug-loading potential of the mineral (porous β-pyrophosphate crystals treated with gypsum). Meanwhile, the authors tested four common bacteria and showed that the drug-loaded mineral had enhanced antimicrobial properties, particularly against E. coli (74% growth inhibition) and S. aureus (48% growth inhibition).
Fig.2 Percentage of loaded drug for three different minerals. (David J H Cant, et al. 2023)
CD Formulation has a team of experts who specialize in developing and researching nanoformulations. They offer drug-loading testing services to assist with nanoformulation development and quality control. If you need help measuring drug loading or have any analytical needs, feel free to contact us for more information.
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