title: Preparing amorphous hydrophobic drug nanoparticles by nanoporous membrane extrusion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study was to develop a simple and straightforward method for formulating hydrophobic drugs into nanoparticulate form in a scalable and inexpensive manner.
  
  
  METHODS
  The nanoporous membrane extrusion (NME) method was used to prepare hydrophobic drug nanoparticles. NME is based on the induced precipitation of drug-loaded nanoparticles at the exits of nanopores. Three common hydrophobic drug models (silymarin, β-carotene and butylated hydroxytoluene) were tested. The authors carefully investigated the morphology, crystallinity and dissolution profile of the resulting nanoparticles.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using NME, the authors successfully prepared rather uniform drug nanoparticles (∼100 nm in diameter). These nanoparticles were amorphous and show an improved dissolution profile compared with untreated drug powders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These studies suggest that NME could be used as a general method to produce nanoparticles of hydrophobic drugs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5080, USA.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Tammy M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Yaping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Charles R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Richard N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Zare
mesh_terms: D002084:Butylated Hydroxytoluene / Q000737:chemistry; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008566:Membranes / Q000737:chemistry*; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry*; D012838:Silymarin / Q000737:chemistry; D019207:beta Carotene / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D012838:Silymarin; D019207:beta Carotene; D002084:Butylated Hydroxytoluene