Parenteral & Transdermal Route of Adminstration Flashcards
Describe the properties of intravenous injections
- Aqueous buffers at neutral pH (citrate, phosphate, acetate)
- Drug must be completely solubilised
- Co-solvents may be added to improve solubility or stability (Ethanol, Glycerin, PEG)
- No particles except for some nutritional lipids
- Hypertonic solutions generally avoid - however possible with slow administration
NaCl, KCl, dextrose often added for tonicity adjustment
What is intramuscular delivery suitable for?
Prolonged release of oily and particulate doses (poorly soluble drugs?
How does blood flow affect absorption of IM injections?
The higher the blood flow, the higher the absorption
- Deltoid arm muscles (2ml max injection volume) provide better absorption than the buttock (5ml max volume) or thigh
- Age and disease affect blood flow
- Degradation may occur at site of injection e.g. proteases affecting protein drugs
What are the advantages of subcutaneous drug delivery?
- Rapid and predictable
- Used for self-medication
- Used for poorly absorbed and fragile drugs
What are the uses of intra-peritoneal drug delivery?
Chemotherapy for abdominal tumours, dialysis in renal failure or for diagnostic imaging agents
Give uses for intra-ventricular drug delivery
Infection OR to reduce side effects in malignancy
How do needle free injections work?
- They force the drug through the skin - they can be spring powered or high pressure gas
- Can be used for SC, Intradermal or IM injection
- Can be reused
- Less pain and damage than using a needle
- Bioequivalent to regular needle-based injections
- Example: IntraJect
How do microneedle patches work?
- The stratum corner is pierced by very fine, short needles
- They increase skin permeability by creating micron-scale pathways in the skin
- Delivers drugs into the skin during microneedles insertion - Minimal invasion
- For small molecules, proteins and nanoparticles
What is the dosage range for transdermal formulations?
5-25mg daily
How can transdermal drug penetration be enhanced?
- Drug and delivery vehicle modification
- Modification of the stratum corneum
- Powered penetration enhancement devices
Give examples of powered penetration enhancement devices
Iontophoresis
Phonphoresis
Electroporation patches
What are the routes of transdermal penetration?
- Directly across the stratum corneum
- Through sweat ducts
- Through hair follicles and sebaceous glands
What are the properties of the stratum corneum?
- 10-15µm thick dry
- 40µm hydrated
- layers of keratin rich corneocytes (dead cells) in an intercellular lipid matrix extruded by keratinocytes
- Extruded lipid phase behaviour is different from biomembranes
- Both drugs and excipients may be hydrolysed by enzymes in the skin e.g. esterases, which can affect absorption
What is the major route for most drugs?
Intercellular route
Route for drugs soluble in lipid regions or in formulation disrupting the lipid regions
What is the route for most hydrophilic drugs?
Transcellular
Hydrophilic drugs penetrate the aqueous regions of keratin filaments - but also have to go through intercellular lipid region.
What is the ideal molecular weight for a transdermal patch?
<500 Da
but can have <1000 Da
What is the ideal melting point for a transdermal patch?
<200°C
What is the ideal LogP for a transdermal patch?
Between 1 and 3
What is the ideal kinetic half life for a transdermal patch?
<6-8 hours
What is the maximum patch size?
50cm2
How can a drug vehicle be modified to enhance skin permeation?
- Drug selection
- Use of pro-drug
- Ion pairs, complexes
- Modification of chemical potential
- Form a eutectic system
- Use liposomes or vesicles
When would you need to modify the stratum corneum?
If the drug doesn’t have ideal physicochemical properties
How can the stratum corneum be modified to enhance skin permeation?
- Hydration (swelling) enhances permeation and gives more routes for drug to pass through
- Lipid fluidisation
- Disruption of the stratum corneum lipid lamellae (provides more routes for drug to pass through)
- Hydrolysis by enzymes in the epidermis (changes nature of drug and therefore its permeation)
What happens when a drug is at its highest thermodynamic activity?
It has maximum skin penetration
This is achieved when drug is in a supersaturated solution
What happens when water is taken up from the skin into the vehicle?
Water acts as an anti-solvent (solvent in which drug is less soluble)
This increases the thermodynamic activity of the drug increases flux by 5-10 times (increases drug permeation)
What is a eutectic mixture?
Two components that, at a certain ratio, inhibit the crystallisation of each other so that the melting point of both is decreased
What is the benefit of having a lower melting point?
The lower the drug’s melting point, the greater the solubility in a given organic solvent
Including skin lipids (reduced to at or below skin temp)
How do penetration enhancers work?
- Disrupt the intercellular lipid lamellar structure
- Form Interactions with intracellular proteins of the stratum corneum
- Improvement of partitioning of a drug, with a co-enhancer or co-solvent penetrating the stratum corneum
How does hydration of stratum corneum improve permeation?
- Alters drug solubility and partitioning
- It increases skin hydration, swelling and opening of the stratum corneum which leads to increased penetration
- Safe and widely used
How do liposomes improve permeation in the stratum corneum?
- They hydrate/alter lipid layers
- Liposome can readily enter and fuse with SC lipids especially when they are similar to the SC lipids
- Deformable liposomes (transferomes) contain ethanol and surfactants.
Act as ‘edge activatiors’ - able to squeeze through channels less than a tenth of their diameter.