Drug Delivery Properties of Six Nebulizer Systems

Abstract

Abstract Objectives—nebulizers offer quick and efficient drug delivery to the lungs. The purpose of this study is to characterize six nebulizer systems. Some important aspects of nebulization studied are drug content and concentration, reservoir solution temperature during nebulization, and nebulization time. Methods—four jet nebulizer-compressor systems, with the same jet nebulizer model, and two ultrasonic nebulizer systems were characterized in this study. Drug content/concentration for each nebulizer was analyzed with two concentrations (1.25 and 0.63 mg) of albuterol sulfate. UV/visible spectrophotometry was utilized to determine reservoir drug content and concentration. Reservoir temperature measurements were taken with a temperature probe. Results—for the 1.25-mg dosage form of the drug, the compressor-driven systems had the least amount of decrease in reservoir drug content while the ultrasonic nebulizer had the greatest amount of decrease in reservoir drug content. All of the nebulizers, except for one compressor-driven system, had equivalent amounts of drug remaining in the reservoir for the 0.63-mg drug dosage form. The compressor-driven and ultrasonic systems had an increase in drug concentration for both forms of the drug. However, a decrease occurred in the ultrasonic system with the 0.63-mg dosage form of the drug. The reservoir temperature decreased in most of the compressor-driven systems while the temperature increased in the ultrasonic systems. The quickest nebulization time was seen in the ultrasonic systems. Conclusions—the ultrasonic nebulizer is the most efficient in nebulizing the greatest amount of medication in the least amount of time, while the compressor-driven systems are the least efficient in nebulizing the medication and require a greater nebulization time.