• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to use a ternary polymeric matrix system for high drug loading of a highly soluble drug for controlled release delivery. The controlled drug delivery of diltiazem HCl (solubility > 50% in water at $25^{\circ}C$) with high loading dose (the final loading dose of drug was 34%) from a ternary polymeric matrix (gelatin, pectin, HPMC) was successfully accomplished. This simple monolithic system with 240 mg drug loading provided near zero-order release over a 24 hour-period by which time the system was completely dissolved. The release kinetics of diltiazem HCl tablet with high loading dose from the designed ternary polymeric system was dependent on the ratios of HPMC : pectin binary mixture. The release rate increased as pectin : HPMC ratio were increased. Swelling behavior of the ternary system and the ionic interaction of formulation components with cationic diltiazem molecule appear to control drug diffusion and the release kinetics. Comparable release profiles between commercial product and the designed system were obtained. The binding study between gelatin with diltiazem HCl showed the presence of two binding sites for drug interaction with subsequent controlled diffusion upon swelling. This designed delivery system is easy to manufacture and drug release behavior is highly reproducible and offers advantages over the existing commercial product.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.249-255
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• 1998

Solid Lipid Nanoparticle(SLN), one of the colloidal carrier systems, has many advantages such as good biocompatibility, low toxicity and stability. In this paper, the effects of drug lipophilicity and surfactant on the drug loading capacity, particle size and drug release profile were examined. SLNs were prepared by homogenization of melted lipid dispersed in an aqueous surfactant solution. Ketoprofen, ibuprofen and pranoprofen were used as model drugs and tweens and poloxamers were tested for the effect of surfactant. Mean particle size of prepared SLNs was ranged from 100 to 150nm. The drug loading capacity was improved with the most lipophilic drug and low concentration of surfactant. Particle size and polydispersity of SLNs were changed according to the used lipid and surfactant. The rates of drug release were controlled by the loading drug and surfactant concentration. SLN system with effective drug loading efficiency and proper particle size for the intravenous or oral formulation can be prepared by selecting optimum drug and surfactant.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.339-343
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• 2009

Recently, co-delivery of drug and gene has been attempted for higher therapeutic effects of anticancer agents. In this study, cationic liposomes were prepared using 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammoniopropane (DOTAP) as a cationic lipid to investigate the effect of drug loading on the physicochemical characteristics of cationic liposomes/DNA complexes. The complex formation between cationic liposomes and negatively charged plasmid DNA was confirmed and the protection from DNase was observed. Particle size of complexes was reduced not by drug loading, but by the increased ratio of cationic lipid to plasmid DNA. Meanwhile, zeta potential of complex was increased by the addition of cationic liposomes to complexes and the effect of drug loading on the zeta potential was not much higher than on particle size. Gel retardation of complexes was indicated when the complexation weight ratios of cationic lipid to plasmid DNA were higher than 24:1 for drug free complexes and 20:1 for drug loaded ones, respectively. Agarose gel retardation showed the similar complexation between plasmid DNA and drug free liposomes or drug loaded liposomes. Both complexes protected plasmid DNA from DNase independent of complexation temperature. From the results, drug loading may affect not the complex formation of cationic liposomes and plasmid DNA, but the particle size of complex.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.418-422
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• 1998

Aim of this work is to prepare poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles by dialysis method without surfactant and to investigate drug loading capacity and drug release. The size of PLGA nanoparticles was 269.9 $\pm$118.7 nm in intensity average and the morphology of PLGA nanoparticies was spherical shape from the observation of SEM and TEM. In the effect of drug loading contents on the particle size distribution, PLGA nanoparticles were monomodal pattern with narrow size distribution in the empty and lower drug loading nanoparticles whereas bi- or trimodal pattern was showed in the higher drug loading ones. Release of clonazepam from PLGA nanoparticles with higher drug loading contents was slower than that with lower loading contents.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.598-604
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• 2006

In many conventional drug delivery systems in vogue, failure to deliver efficient drug delivery at the target site/organs; is evident as a result, less efficacious pharmacological response is elicited. Microspheres can be derived a remedial measure which can improve site-specific drug delivery to a considerable extent. As an application, Lung-targeting Ofloxacin-loaded gelatin microspheres (GLOME) were prepared by water in oil emulsion method. The Central Composite Design (CCD) was used to optimize the process of preparation, the appearance and size distribution were examined by scanning electron microscopy, the aspects such as in vitro release characteristics, stability, drug loading, loading efficiency, pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution in albino mice were studied. The experimental results showed that the microspheres in the range of $0.32-22\;{\mu}m$. The drug loading and loading efficiency were 61.05 and 91.55% respectively. The in vitro release profile of the microspheres matched the korsmeyer’s peppas release pattern, and release at 1h was 42%, while for the original drug, ofloxacin under the same conditions 90.02% released in the first half an hour. After i.v. administration (15 min), the drug concentration of microspheres group in lung in albino mice was $1048\;{\mu}g/g$, while that of controlled group was $6.77\;{\mu}g/g$. GLOME found to release the drug to a maximum extent in the target tissue, lungs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.360.1-360.1
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• 2016

Hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2, HAP) particles have attracted a great deal of attention in biomedical fields due to their good biocompatibility, bioactivity and fairly broad applications as drug delivery, dental implant, bone cement, and etc. Thus, many researchers have made an effort to add new functionalities such as luminescence, drug delivery, and bone regeneration properties up to HAP powders by controlling their nanostructure as well as composition. In this research, the mesoporous strontium substituted HAP (Sr-HAP) microspheres were synthesized using a hydrothermal method. In this synthesis, aspartic acid monomers were utilized to form microsphere by controlling surface energy of HAP particles and Sr ions were substituted into Ca ion sites, which induced luminescence property in HAP powders. Moreover, the change in the amount of Sr substitution was found to influence the particle size, morphology, and concurrently surface area, which led to changing drug loading as well as drug release property. The amount of Sr influences the morphology, luminescent properties, particle size, surface area cell viability and drug loading property, which are investigated by SEM, TEM, XRD, FTIR, BET, XPS and in vitro test such as MTT assay and drug release test. In particular, the multifunctional Sr-HAP with molar ratios of 0.25 (Sr/(Ca+Sr)) possessed the strongest luminescent property as well as the superior drug loading and sustained release properties that were correspondent with large surface area and pore size. Our study indicates that the fabricated multifunctional Sr-HAP microspheres are quite useful for bone regeneration and drug delivery.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2005

Recently increasing attention has been focused on solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) as a parenteral drug carrier due to its numerous advantages that can come from both polymeric particle and fat emulsions, together with the possibility of controlled release and increasing drug stability. Lipophilic drugs such as paclitaxel, cyclosporin A, and all-trans retinoic acid have been successfully entrapped in SLN but the incorporation of hydrophilic drugs in SLN is very limited because of their very low affinity to the lipid. Therefore, as a new approach to improve the loading of hydrophilic drugs, a w/o/w emulsion technique has been developed. The primary objective of the current study was to improve the loading efficiency of a model hydrophilic drug, glycine (Log P = -3.44) into SLN. The proposed preparation process is as follows: A heated aqueous phase consisting of 0.1 ml of glycine solution in water (100 mg/ml), and poloxamer 188 (5 mg) were then added to a molten oil phase containing precirol (100 mg) and lecithin (5 mg). This mixture was dispersed by sonicator, leading to a w/o emulsion. A double emulsion (w/o/w) was formed after the addition of 2% poloxamer solution to the above dispersed system. After cooling the double emulsion, solid lipid nanosuspensions were successfully formed. The lipid nanoparticles had the mean particle size of 441.25 nm, and the average zeta potential of -20.98 mV. The drug loading efficiency was measured to be 8.54% and the drug loading amount was measured to be 0.92%. The w/o/w emulsion method showed an increased loading efficiency compared to conventional o/w emulsion method.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.623-633
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• 2001

Various bupivacaine-loaded microspheres were prepared using poly(d,1-lactide) (PLA) and poly(d,1-lactic-co-glycolide) (PLGA) by a solvent evaporation method for the sustained release of drug. The effects of process conditions such as drug loading, polymer type and solvent type on the characteristics of microspheres were investigated. The prepared microspheres were characterized for their drug loading, size distribution, surface morphology and release kinetics. Drug loading efficiency and yield of PLGA micro- spheres were higher than those of PLA microspheres. The prepared microspheres had an average particle size below 5${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. The particle size range of microspheres was 1.65~2.24${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. As a result of SEM, the particle size of PLA microspheres was smaller than that of PLGA microspheres. In morphology studies, microspheres showed a spherical shape and smooth surface in all process conditions. In thermal analysis, bupivacaine-loaded microspheres showed no peaks originating from bupivacaine. This suggested that bupivacaine base was molecular-dispersed in the polymer matrix of microspheres. The release pattern of the drug from microspheres was evaluated for 96 hours. The initial burst release of bupivacaine base decreased with increasing the molecular weight of PLGA, and the drug from microspheres released slowly. In conclusion, bupivacaine-loaded microspheres were successfully prepared from poly(d,1-lactide) and poly (d,1- lactic-co-glycolide) polymers with different molecular weights allowing control of the release rate.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.717-724
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• 2008

In this study, we prepared all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-encapsulated, surfactant-free, PLGA nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were formed by nanoprecipitation process, after which the solvent was removed by solvent evaporation or dialysis method. When a nanoparticle was prepared by the nanoprecipitation - solvent evaporation method, the nanoparticles were bigger than the nanoparticles of the nanoprecipitation - dialysis method, despite the higher although loading efficiency. Nanoparticles from the nanoprecipitation - dialysis method were smaller than 200 nm in diameter, while the loading efficiency was not significantly changed. Especially, nanoparticles prepared from DMAc, 1,4-dioxane, and DMF had a diameter of less than 100 nm. In the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations, all of the nanoparticles showed spherical shapes. The loading efficiency of ATRA was higher than 90% (w/w) at all formulations with exception of THF. The drug content was increased with increasing drug-feeding amount while the loading efficiency was decreased. In the drug release study, an initial burst was observed for $2{\sim}6$ days according to the variations of the formulation, after which the drug was continuously released over one month. Nanoparticles from the nanoprecipitation - dialysis method showed faster drug release than those from the nanoprecipitation - solvent evaporation method. The decreased drug release kinetics was observed at lower drug contents. In the tumor cell cytotoxicity test, ATRA-encapsulated, surfactant-free, PLGA nanoparticles exhibited similar cytotoxicity with that of ATRA itself.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.464-470
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• 2006

the coricosteroid drug dexamethasone is an efficacious antiinflammatory drug, it is difficult to formulate in an injectable formulation due to its poor aqueous solubility. A lipid-based nanosphere formulation containing dexamethasone was designed for solubilization of the drug in aqueous solution and sustained release of the drug from the nanosphere. The lipid nanospheres, composed of phospholipid, cholesterol and cationic lipid, were prepared by self emulsification-solvent diffusion method followed by diafiltration. Physicochemical characteristics such as mean particle diameter, zeta potential and drug loading efficiency of the lipid nanospheres were investigated according to the variation of either the kind of lipid or the lipid composition. The lipid nanospheres had a mean diameter 80-120 nm and dexamethasone loading efficiency of greater than 80%. The drug loading efficiency increased with the increase of the length of aliphatic chain attached to the phospholipid. However, the drug loading efficiency was inversely proportional to the increase of cholesterol content in the lipid composition. The lipid nanosphere could not be prepared without the use of cationic lipid and the drug loading efficiency was proportional to the increase of cationic lipid content. The lipid nanospheres containing dexamethasone are a promising novel drug carrier for an injectable formulation of the poorly water-soluble drugs.