Inhalation Capsules Research Articles

The Effect of Inhaled Tiotropium Bromide on Lung Mucociliary Clearance in Patients With COPD

To assess the effects of tiotropium on lung mucociliary clearance in COPD. Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study. Outpatients of an urban-area university teaching hospital. Thirty-four patients with COPD aged 40 to 75 years classified equally into two groups. Single (18 microg) daily dose of tiotropium inhalation capsules or of placebo for 21 days. Six-hour tracheobronchial clearance of inhaled 99mTc-labeled polystyrene particles using a 48-h retention measurement to determine the "nontracheobronchial" deposition fraction. Test radioaerosol penetration into the lungs increased significantly (p < 0.003) as did FEV1 (p < 0.006) in the tiotropium-treated patients, but measured mucociliary clearance was not significantly changed despite the increased pathway length for clearance (mean +/- SE area under the tracheobronchial retention curve changed from 442 +/- 22 to 453 +/- 20%/h). Smaller (nonsignificant) decreases of radioaerosol penetration and FEV1 occurred in the placebo group together with a small (nonsignificant) decrease in the area under the retention curve. Twenty-one days of inhaled tiotropium, 18 microg/d, as a dry powder does not retard mucus clearance from the lungs.

Determination of Formoterol by Capillary Electrophoresis and its Application to Inhaler Capsules

A capillary electrophoretic (CE) method for the determination of formoterol (FOR) in a pharmaceutical preparation is described. Analysis was made in a background electrolyte consisting of 20 % acetonitrile and 50 mM phosphoric acid at pH 2.5, using fused silica capillary (86 cm x 75 microm ID), 27 kV potential, and detecting at 200 nm. Under these electrophoretic conditions 3, 4-dihydroxybenzylamine used as an internal standard (IS) and FOR showed symmetrical peaks at 6.1 and 8.3 min., respectively. The inter-day and intra-day precision was examined in the concentration range of 2.98 x 10(-6) M to 8.94 x 10(-6) M. Good correlation and accuracy were obtained. Limit of detection, (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) values were 3.71 x 10(-7) M and 1.11 x 10(-6) M, respectively. The method was applied for the analysis of FOR in pharmaceutical inhaler capsules. The proposed method is reliable, precise, accurate, fast, and cost effective.