Kinetic characterization of swelling of liquid crystalline phases of glyceryl monooleate
Research in this paper focuses on the kinetic evaluation of swelling of the liquid crystalline phases of glyceryl monooleate (GMO). Swelling of the lamellar and cubic liquid crystalline phases of GMO was studied using twoIn vitro methods, a total immersion method and a Franz cell method. The swelling of the lamellar phase and GMO having 0 %w/w initial water content was temperature dependent. The swelling ratio was greater at 20°C than 37°C. The water uptake increased dramatically with decreasing initial water content of the liquid crystalline phases. The swelling rates obtained using the Franz cell method with a moist nylon membrane to mimic buccal drug delivery situation were slower than the total immersion method. The swelling was studied by employing first-order and second-order swelling kinetics. The swelling of the liquid crystalline phases of GMO could be described by second-order swelling kinetics. The initial stage of the swelling (t < 4 h) followed the square root of time relationship, indicating that this model is also suitable for describing the water uptake by the liquid crystalline matrices. These results obtained from the current study demonstrate that the swelling strongly depends on temperature, the initial water content of the liquid crystalline phases and the methodology employed for measuring the swelling of GMO.

title: Water quantitatively induces the mucoadhesion of liquid crystalline phases of glyceryl monooleate.
abstract: The possible role of water in the mucoadhesion phenomenon exhibited by the liquid crystalline phases of glyceryl monooleate was investigated using an in-vitro tensile strength technique. The mucoadhesion of the liquid crystalline phases of glyceryl monooleate was found to occur following uptake of water. The mucoadhesive force of the cubic phase was consistent since it is not capable of taking up additional water. An increase in pre-load period greatly facilitated the mucoadhesion of glyceryl monooleate (0% w/w initial water content), suggesting that the mucoadhesion is dependent upon the extent of the dehydration of the substrate. A good linear relationship between initial water content of the liquid crystalline phases and mucoadhesive force led to the conclusion that the mucoadhesive force increased with decreasing initial water concentration. Rheological properties of the liquid crystalline phases were also studied to allow a correlation between physical changes and mucoadhesion of the liquid crystalline phases, revealing that higher water concentrations in the liquid crystalline phases led to a more ordered structure that showed less mucoadhesion. The results of this study indicated that the mucoadhesive force of the liquid crystalline phases of glyceryl monooleate is determined by the capability to take up water from a water-rich environment. It may, therefore, be advantageous to use the lamellar phase as a buccal drug carrier as opposed to the relatively less mucoadhesive cubic phase.

title: Hydrotropic Solubilization of Paclitaxel: Analysis of Chemical Structures for Hydrotropic Property
abstract: AbstractPurpose. To identify hydrotropic agents that can increase aqueous paclitaxel (PTX) solubility and to study the chemical structures necessary for hydrotropic properties so that polymeric hydrotropic agents can be synthesized.
Methods. More than 60 candidate hydrotropic agents (or hydro- tropes) were tested for their ability to increase the aqueous PTX solubility. A number of nicotinamide analogues were synthesized based on the observation that nicotinamide showed a favorable hydrotropic property. The identified hydrotropes for PTX were used to examine the structure-activity relationship. N,N-Diethylnicotinamide (NNDENA) was found to be the most effective hydrotropic agent for PTX. The aqueous PTX solubility was 39 mg/ml and 512 mg/ml at NNDENA concentrations of 3.5 M and 5.95 M, respectively. These values are 5-6 orders of magnitude greater than the intrinsic solubility of 0.30 ± 0.02 μg/ml. N-Picolylnicotinamide, N-allylnicotinamide, and sodium salicylate were also excellent hydrotropes for PTX. Solubility data showed that an effective hydrotropic agent should be highly water soluble while maintaining a hydrophobic segment.
 The present study identified several hydrotropic agents effective for increasing aqueous solubility of PTX and analyzed the structural requirements for this hydrotropic property. This information can be used to find other hydrotropic compounds and to synthesize polymeric hydrotropes that are effective for PTX and other poorly water-soluble drugs.

title: Enhancedex vivo buccal transport of propranolol: Evaluation of phospholipids as permeation enhancers
abstract: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of two phospholipid permeation enhancers, lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) and didecanoylphosphatidylcholine (DDPC), along with a fusidic acid derivative, sodium taurodihydrofusidate (STDHF) and ethanol (EtOH) on the buccal transport of propranolol hydrochloride (PPL) using anex vivo buccal diffusion model. The permeation rate of [3H]PPL as measured by steady-state fluxes increased with increasing EtOH concentration. A significant flux enhancement (P<0.05) was achieved by EtOH at 20 and 30 %v/v concentrations. At a 0.5 %w/v permeation enhancer concentration, the buccal permeation of [3H]PPL was significantly enhanced by all the enhancers studied (i.e., LPC, DDPC and STDHF) compared to the control (phosphate-buffered saline pH 7.4, PBS). LPC and DDPC displayed a greater degree of permeation enhancement compared with STDHF and EtOH-PBS mixtures with an enhancement ratio of 3.2 and 2.9 for LPC and DDPC, respectively compared with 2.0 and 1.5 for STDHF and EtOH:PBS 30:70 %v/v mixture, respectively. There was no significant difference between LPC and DDPC for the flux values and apparent permeability coefficients of [3H]PPL. These results suggest that phospholipids are suitable as permeation enhancers for the buccal delivery of drugs.

title: Peptide Washout and Permeability from Glyceryl Monooleate Buccal Delivery Systems
abstract: Simultaneous evaluation of the permeation and washout of a peptide from the mucoadhesive liquid crystalline phases of glyceryl monooleate (GMO) has been investigated using a donor compartment flow-through diffusion cell. [d-Ala2, d-Leu5]enkephalin (DADLE) was incorporated into the cubic and lamellar liquid crystalline phases of GMO and applied to excised porcine buccal mucosa mounted in the donor compartment flow-through cell. Phosphate-buffered saline pH 7.4 (PBS) was pumped across the upper surface of the liquid crystalline phases to mimic salivary flow. The steady-state fluxes of DADLE and GMO from the cubic phase were significantly greater than that from the lamellar phase (P<0.01). There was no statistical difference between the amounts of DADLE and GMO washed out from the lamellar and cubic phases (P>0.05). The donor compartment flow-through diffusion cell was found to be a useful tool to evaluate the impact of salivary washout on mucoadhesive oral mucosal delivery systems.

title: The effect of storage conditions on the permeability of porcine buccal mucosa
abstract: The impact of storage conditions on the permeability of porcine buccal mucosa to [3H]water and [14C]mannitol was assessed. The fresh porcine buccal tissue (fresh tissue) was obtained by utilizing pig heads within 24 hours of slaughter. The stored and frozen porcine buccal tissues (stored tissue and frozen tissue) were obtained after the storage of the tissue intact in the pig heads at 4 degrees C or -20 degrees C, respectively, for 24 h. The results demonstrated that the barrier properties of the porcine buccal mucosa were maintained with regard to [3H]water permeability when stored at 4 degrees C for 24 h. However, freezing the tissue resulted in tissue damage illustrated by a significant increase in [3H]water permeability. [14C]Mannitol does not appear to be a suitable model solute to assess the ex vivo permeability of porcine buccal mucosa due to its extremely low permeability.

title: Sprouting of dopamine terminals and altered dopamine release and uptake in Parkinsonian dyskinaesia.
abstract: Failed storage capacity, leading to pulsatile delivery of dopamine (DA) in the striatum, is used to explain the emergence of 'wearing off' and dyskinaesia in Parkinson's disease. In this study, we show that surviving DA neurons in 6-OHDA lesioned rats sprout to re-innervate the striatum, and maintain terminal density until approximately 60% of neurons are lost. We demonstrate that DA terminal density correlates with baseline striatal DA concentration ([DA]). Electrochemical and synaptosome studies in 6-OHDA lesioned rats and primates suggest that impaired striatal DA re-uptake and increased DA release from medial forebrain bundle fibres contribute to maintaining striatal DA levels. In lesioned rats where terminal density fell by 60% or more, L-DOPA administration increased striatal DA levels markedly. The striatal [DA] produced by L-DOPA directly correlated with the extent of dyskinaesia, suggesting that dyskinaesia was related to high striatal [DA]. While sprouting and decreased dopamine uptake transporter function would be expected to contribute to the marked increase in L-DOPA induced [DA], the increased [DA] was most marked when DAergic fibres were >60% denervated, suggesting that other release sites, such as serotonergic fibres might be contributing. In conclusion, the extent of dyskinaesia was directly proportional to the extent of DA terminal denervation and levels of extra-synaptic striatal DA. We propose that sprouting of DA terminals and decreased dopamine uptake transporter function prevent the appearance of Parkinsonian symptoms until about 60% loss of nigral neurons, but also contribute to dysregulated striatal DA release that is responsible for the emergence of dyskinaesia and 'wearing off'.

title: Unbiased global optimization of Lennard-Jones clusters for N < or =201 using the conformational space annealing method.
abstract: We apply the conformational space annealing method to the Lennard-Jones clusters and find all known lowest energy configurations up to 201 atoms, without using extra information of the problem such as the structures of the known global energy minima. In addition, the robustness of the algorithm with respect to the randomness of initial conditions of the problem is demonstrated by ten successful independent runs up to 183 atoms. Our results indicate that this method is a general and yet efficient global optimization algorithm applicable to many systems.

title: Complex data analysis in high-resolution SSFP fMRI.
abstract: In transition-band steady-state free precession (SSFP) functional MRI (fMRI), functional contrast originates from a bulk frequency shift induced by a deoxygenated hemoglobin concentration change in the activated brain regions. This frequency shift causes a magnitude and/or phase-signal change depending on the off-resonance distribution of a voxel in the balanced-SSFP (bSSFP) profile. However, in early low-resolution studies, only the magnitude signal activations were shown. In this paper the task-correlated phase-signal change is presented in a high-resolution (1 x 1 x 1 mm3) study. To include this phase activation in a functional analysis, a new complex domain data analysis method is proposed. The results show statistically significant phase-signal changes in a large number of voxels comparable to that of the magnitude-activated voxels. The complex-data analysis method successfully includes these phase activations in the activation map and thus provides wider coverage compared to magnitude-data analysis results.

title: Respiration-induced B0 field fluctuation compensation in balanced SSFP: real-time approach for transition-band SSFP fMRI.
abstract: In functional MRI (fMRI) the resonance frequency shift induced from respiration is a major source of physiological noise. In transition-band SSFP fMRI the respiration-induced resonance offset not only increases noise interference, it also shifts the activation band. This leads to a reduction in the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and the potential for varying contrast levels during the experiment. A novel real-time method that compensates for the respiration-induced resonance offset frequency is presented. This method utilizes free induction decay (FID) phase information to measure the resonance offset. For compensation, one can update the resonant frequency in real time by changing the transmit RF pulse and receiver phases to track the measured offset. The results show decreased signal power in the respiration frequency band and increased numbers of activated voxels with higher Z-scores compared to uncompensated experiments.

title: Detection of E. coli in beach water within 1 hour using immunomagnetic separation and ATP bioluminescence.
abstract: The contamination of beach waters occurs from the discharge of storm water and sanitary sewer overflows containing faecal material. Additional faecal material derives from discharge of animals and waterfowl. In order to protect public from exposure to faecal-contaminated water, it is required to test enteric indicators in beach water. The problem is that the traditional culture-based methods cannot meet this goal because it takes too long (>24 h), so the results are not available until a day later. A rapid method for testing beach water for Escherichia coli within 1 h has been developed. Immunomagnetic separation (IMS) and ATP bioluminescence were used for selective capture and quantification, respectively. This rapid method was compared to the current method (m-TEC) using beach water samples. The beach samples were prefiltered with a 20 microm pore size filter in order to remove algae, plant debris and large particles. The results showed that the prefiltration step did not trap the bacteria which were present in the original water samples. The prefiltered water was then passed through a 0.45 microm pore size filter for concentration. The deposited bacteria were resuspended and then mixed with superparamagnetic polystyrene beads (diameter of 0.6 microm) that were coated with E. coli antibodies. After IMS, the quantification of the E. coli was done by ATP bioluminescence. The results obtained with IMS-ATP bioluminescence correlated well with the plate count method (Rsq = 0.93). The detection limit of the assay was about 20 CFU/100 mL, which is well below the US EPA limits for recreational water. The entire procedure can be completed in less than 1 hour. The necessary equipment is portable and was tested on-site.