Formulation and development of ophthalmic in situ gel for the treatment ocular inflammation and infection using application of quality by design concept

Context: The conventional liquid ophthalmic delivery systems exhibit short pre-corneal residence time and the relative impermeability to the cornea which leads to poor ocular bioavailability.

Objective: The aim of this study was to apply quality by design (QbD) for development of dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DSP) and tobramycin sulfate (TS)-loaded thermoresponsive ophthalmic in situ gel containing Poloxamer 407 and hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) K4M for prolonging the pre-corneal residence time, ocular bioavability and decreases the frequency of administration of dosage form. The material attributes and the critical quality attributes (CQA) of the in situ gel were identified. Central composite design (CCD) was adopted to optimize the formulation.

Materials and methods: The ophthalmic in situ forming gels were prepared by cold method. Materials attributes were the amount of Poloxamer 407 and HPMC and CQA identified were Gel strength, mucoadhesive index, gelation temperature and % of drug release of both drug.

Results and discussion: Optimized batch (F*) containing 16.75% poloxamer 407 and 0.54% HPMC K4M were exhibited all results in acceptable limits. Compared with the marketed formulation, optimized in situ gel showed delayed T_max, improved C_max and AUC in rabbit aqueous humor, suggesting the sustained drug release and better corneal penetration and absorption.

Conclusion: According to the study, it could be concluded that DSP and TS would be successfully formulated as in situ gelling mucoadhesive system for the treatment of steroid responsive eye infections with the properties of sustained drug release, prolonged ocular retention and improved corneal penetration.     

APPLICATION OF NORMAL AND DERIVATIVE ULTRAVIOLET ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY FOR THK DETERMINATION OF AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN GAS OILS

Ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy, has an immense potential for characterization of aromatic hydrocarbons in distillate petroleum fractions. The second derivative ultraviolet spectroscopy has improved the understanding of complex aromatic structures, such as polynuclear aromatics, which are present in gas oil fractions. Normal and second derivative ultraviolet spectroscopy of gas oils and their separated fractions are discussed in detail and conclusions are drawn regarding mono-di-and polynuclear aromatics in various gas oils.     

Three-wavelength electronic speckle pattern interferometry with the Fourier-transform method for simultaneous measurement of microstructure-scale deformations in three dimensions

We present the simultaneous measurement of three-dimensional deformations by electronic speckle pattern interferometry using five object beams and three colors. Each color, corresponding to an orthogonal direction of displacement, is separated through dichroic filtering before being recorded by a separate CCD camera. Carrier fringes are introduced by tilting the beam path in one arm of each of the three interferometers. The measured deformation modulates these carrier fringes and is extracted using the Fourier-transform method to achieve high displacement sensitivity. The field of view is on the order of a millimeter, making the system suitable for study of microstructural deformations. We compare experimental results with calculated values to validate out-of-plane and in-plane deformation measurements and demonstrate sensitivity on the order of 10 nm.     

RTD studies in trickle bed reactors packed with porous particles

The residence time distribution (RTD) for liquid phase in a trickle bed reactor (TBR) has been experimentally studied for air-water system. Experiments were performed in a 15.2 cm diameter column using commerical alumina extrudates with D/d_p ratio equal to 75 to eliminate the radial flow differences. The range of liquid and gas flow rates covered was 3.76 < Re_L < 9.3 and 0 < Re_G < 2.92. The axial dispersion model was used to compute axial dispersion coefficient. The effect of liquid and gas flow rates on total liquid holdup and axial dispersion was investigated. The total liquid holdup has been correlated to liquid and gas flow rates.