Application of a suitable particle engineering technique by pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) to modify the physicochemical properties of poorly soluble drugs

Abstract

Several disintegration procedures are well known in the field of pharmaceutical technology to improve the solubility, dissolution rate and bioavailability. Only a few, organic materials were applied for micro/nanoparticle generation by pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL), however in the last decade, several studies presented successful production from different active agents. PLAL could be a non-conventional approach by the preformulation of the drug, as a simple, clean (no additional chemicals are needed) and a rapid wet grinding metho d. It can be stated about the novelty of the work that a poorly water-soluble meloxicam was milled first time by pulsed laser ablation in liquid, where the effect of three different wavelengths, fluence values (energy density) and polymer type (PVP, PVA, Poloxamer) on the habit, structure, solubility and in vitro properties of the drug were investigated. Nearly spherical amorphous micro- and nanoparticles could be reached in a size range between 60 and 700 nm.Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) was applied to check the purity, secondary interaction and High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was used for the determination of the presence of the meloxicam content and the final yield. The results suggest that laser ablation a useful approach to modify the physicochemical properties of the active agents, introduced a novel preparation method in drug preformulation with improved solubility (from 0.0203 mg/mL to 0.0797 mg/mL), dissolution rate (~85%) and also to produce a suitable intermediate product for traditional and alternative drug administration (e.g. pulmonary, nasal, transdermal).