title: Drying polymeric drug-loaded nanocapsules: the wet granulation process as a promising approach.
abstract: The industrial development of polymeric nanoparticle suspensions is still limited due to their low physicochemical stability. In this paper, we evaluated the wet granulation process as an alternative method to dry polymeric nanocapsules using dexamethasone as drug model. Nanocapsule suspensions were used as granulating liquid as well as a drug-loaded-nanocarrier in the wet granulation process. Granules were evaluated regarding their drug content, mean particle size, yield, moisture content, flow properties, stability on storage, recovery studies after water redispersion and morphological characteristics (SEM). Granules containing dexamethasone-loaded polymeric nanocapsules presented good drug content (approximately 94%) and were stable for 6 months at room temperature. Morphological analyses showed nanostructures on their surface and the nanoparticles were recovered after redispersing the granules in water. These results suggest that wet granulation can be an interesting alternative to dry drug-loaded nanocapsule suspensions.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pds-Graduação em Ciências Farmacêuticas, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Departamento de Farmácia Industrial, Av. Roraima, 1000, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, 97105-900, Brazil.
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Friedrich
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Fontana
authors.forename: M O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Bastos
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Pohlmann
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Guterres
authors.forename: R C R
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Beck
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000737:chemistry; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D004355:Drug Stability; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D053769:Nanocapsules / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010316:Particle Size; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013535:Suspensions / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D053769:Nanocapsules; D011108:Polymers; D013535:Suspensions; D003907:Dexamethasone