Preparing Amorphous Hydrophobic Drug Nanoparticles by Nanoporous Membrane Extrusion

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the present study was to develop a simple and straightforward method for formulating hydrophobic drugs into nanoparticulate form in a scalable and inexpensive manner. Materials & methods: The nanoporous membrane extrusion (NME) method was used to prepare hydrophobic drug nanoparticles. NME is based on the induced precipitation of drug-loaded nanoparticles at the exits of nanopores. Three common hydrophobic drug models (silymarin, β-carotene and butylated hydroxytoluene) were tested. The authors carefully investigated the morphology, crystallinity and dissolution profile of the resulting nanoparticles. Results: Using NME, the authors successfully prepared rather uniform drug nanoparticles (∼100 nm in diameter). These nanoparticles were amorphous and show an improved dissolution profile compared with untreated drug powders. Conclusion: These studies suggest that NME could be used as a general method to produce nanoparticles of hydrophobic drugs.

Original submitted 8 June 2011; Revised submitted 7 May 2012; Published online 3 September 2012

Keywords::

• β-carotene
• butylated hydroxytoluene
• hydrophobic drug
• nanoparticle
• nanoporous membrane extrusion
• silymarin
• U-tube

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors thank the National Science Foundation (CBET-0827806) for supporting this project. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank the National Science Foundation (CBET-0827806) for supporting this project. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.