Suspensions Flashcards
What are the three types of dispersed systems?
Molecular dispersion
Colloidal dispersion
Coarse dispersion
What is a dispersed system?
A system containing a dispersed phase (internal) and a continuous phase (dispersion medium)
What are the main differences between the dispersion systems?
Colloidal dispersion particles are 0.5μm. They are visible under….
What type of dispersion systems are pharmaceutical suspensions and emulsions?
Coarse dispersion systems
What is the difference between an emulsion and a suspension?
The difference between an emulsion and a suspension is based on the nature of the dispersed (internal) phase.
The dispersed phase of an emulsion is liquid
The dispersed phase of a suspension is solid
What is the difference between a colloidal dispersion and a coarse dispersion?
The difference between colloidal and coarse dispersions depends on the size of the dispersed phase.
A colloidal dispersion is between 1nm and 0.5μm
A coarse dispersion is >0.5μm
Why do we formulate pharmaceutical suspensions?
Drug insoluble in delivery vehicle
Mask the bitter taste of the drug by keeping it in solid form
Increase drug stability
Achieve controlled/sustained drug release
What are some pharmaceutical applications of suspensions?
Oral drug delivery,
Topical administration
Pareneteral use
What are the advantages of having a suspension in oral drug delivery?
- offers solution for patients with difficulty swallowing
- offer finely divided dispersed phase hence offering high surface area e.g. Mg stearate and Mg carbonate as antacids
- provide taste marking e.g. Paracetamol suspension more palatable than solution
Why are suspensions used in topical adminstration?
Can be used as liquid preparations e.g. Calamine lotion which contains ZnO and FeO
Is used as an astringent.
Can also be used as semi solid suspensions which often contain a high concentration of powder (20-50%) in an ointment base. Usually paraffin, Vaseline or lanolin
Why are suspensions used pareneterally?
We can control the rate of drug absorption and duration of action e.g. Eligard acetate (3month sustained release injectable suspensions for treatment of prostate cancer)
For SC and IM use only
Why are pharmaceutical suspensions not used for the IV route?
Dispersed phase may be too large and will clog up capillaries. If a suspension MUST be used for IV, the particles must be small enough to avoid emoblism
What factors will the suspension drug absorption be dependent on?
Drug absorption of a suspension depends on the solid drug particles dispersed in medium.
These need to be solubilised to be dissolved.
The rate limiting factor is therefore its dissolution
Compare a solution vs. Suspension in terms of onset and duration of action after IM injection
Solution has faster onset as drug is already in solubilised form and ready for absorption suspension:drugs will take longer to have effect as the solid particles need to be dissolved and then absorbed,
but a suspension has longer duration of action due to slower rate of dissolution.
What are the advantages of suspensions?
Allows us to formulate poorly water soluble drugs
Provides taste marking as unpleasant tastes are less obvious in suspensions than in solutions
Offers rapid absorption (compared to solid dosage forms)
Provides a sustained release option
Improves drug stability (compared to solutions)
Why is a well formulated suspension second only to a solution in terms of superior bioavailability ?
A solution is a uniform molecular dispersion, the active ingredient is already dissolved and will absorb into cells immediately.
A suspension contains the active drug in solid form in a liquid medium. It will still require some time to dissolve into solution and then be absorbed.
This means that in terms of bioavailbility, a suspension is better than a solid dosage form, but not as good as that of a solution
Why is the absorption of a suspension dissolution limited?
The solid particles of the suspension require time to dissolve into the medium.
If this does not occur, the suspension formulation will not be absorbed
What type of suspension will have a faster onset of action?
Aqueous suspensions as they are dissolved first. Oily suspensions have poor aqueous solubility, so their dissolution is still their rate limiting step
What type of suspension will have a longer duration of action?
Oily suspensions as they will dissolve slower. The active ingredient will be absorbed over a longer period of time, resulting in a prolonged duration of action
What can be added to suspensions to improve dispersion and absorption of fine particle size suspensions
Surfactants
What are the properties of the dispersed phase? (Particles)
- Finely dispersed particles have a tendency to aggregate, addition of surfactants tend to decrease this aggregation
- Chemical form of suspended drug (its solubility) can be increased if the particle size decreases (due to NW equation where the the rate of dissolution is proportional to surface area.)
But you need a balance between the surface area and particle size to prevent aggregation
What are the desirable qualities of an ideal suspension?
- Remain sufficiently homogenous for a period to allow removal of dose.
- Suspended materials should not settle too rapidly
- Suspended materials must be easily resuspendable
- not too fluid and not too viscous.
- must be an acceptable colour and odor
- uniform particle size
Why is the viscosity of the suspension important?
Suspensions should not be too viscous as this would hinder transfer onto skin, pouring, and flow through a syringe needle.
However suspensions should not be too fluid that it runs off the skin surface without giving the medicament a chance to have an effect
Why is the size of suspended particles important?
The size should be small and uniform to give a smooth, elegant product which is free from gritty texture
What are the theoretical conditions that must be considered when formulation a suspension?
Interfacial properties e.g.v
- surface free energy
- surface potential
- electric double layer
What is the surface free energy?
This is the amount of increase in free energy when the surface area increases (due to reduction in particle size)
ΔG= γΔΑ Where ΔG = increase in surface free energy ΔA = increase in surface area γ= interfacial tension.
Thus the smaller the ΔG, the more stable the suspension. This requires larger particle sizes.
What is the surface potential?
The potential the exists when dispersed solid particles in a suspension possess charge in relation to their surrounding liquid medium
What is the electrical double layer?
An electric distribution at the solid liquid interface as a result of potential determining ions which give the particle it’s charge and counter ions which have the opposite charge.
The double layer consists of a stern layer and a diffuse layer
How is the electrical double layer formed?
Ions that give the particle it’s charge = determining ions/co ions
Ions that have opposite charge to determining ions = counter ions/gegenions
What is the Nernst potential?
E
Potential difference between the actual solid surface and the electroneutral bulk (which is the dispersion medium)
What is the Nernst potential also known as?
The thermodynamic potential
What is the zeta potential?
ζ
The potential difference between the tightly bound layer stern layer and the bulk
What does the zeta potential do?
Governs the electrostatic force of repulsion between solid particles
What is the zeta potential also known as ?
The electrokinetic potential
What is wetting?
Wetting is the ability of a liquid to maintain contact with a solid surface,
This is done by overcoming the interfacial tension between hydrophobic solid and dispersion medium.
What is the wetting process?
Air is adsorbed on the surface of the solid
The wettability of the powdered dispersed phase can be predicted by observing the contact angle and determined by using the Young’s equation
How can the contact angle predict the wettability of the solid particle?
A smaller contact angle means the liquid is more spread out on the solid, indicating that the solid is hydrophilic
A contact angle of 90° = partial wetting
A contact angle of more than 90° indicates the solid is hydrophobic as it is non wetting
What are the 4 different kinds of electrokinetic phenomena?
Electrophoresis
Electroosmosis
Sedimentation potential
Steaming potential
What is electrophoresis?
This is a measurement of the movement of charged particles through a liquid under the influence of an applied potential difference
What is Electroosmosis?
This is where the solid is immobile but the liquid moves relative to the charged surface when a potential is applied
What is sedimentation potential?
This is the potential generated when particles undergo sedimentation
What is streaming potential?
This is created by forcing a liquid to flow through a stationary solid phase e,g, plug, or a bed of particles
What is the DLVO theory?
Derjaguin, Landau, Verwey, Overbeek
Theory of electrostatic stabilisation which explains the tendency of particles to agglomerate or remain discrete.
This depends on the stern potential and the thickness of the electrical double layer
What does the DLVO theory suggest?
The stability of a colloidal system is determined by the sum of the attractive forces (Van der Waals) and repulsive forces (electric double layer) which exists between particles as they approach each other due to Brownian motion