title: The Effect of Spacer Morphology on the Aerosolization Performance of Metered-Dose Inhalers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Respiratory drug delivery has been attracted great interest for the past decades, because of the high incidence of pulmonary diseases. However, despite its invaluable benefits, there are some major drawbacks in respiratory drug delivery, mainly due to the relatively high drug deposition in undesirable regions. One way to improve the efficiency of respiratory drug delivery through metered-dose inhalers (MDI) is placing a respiratory spacer between the inhaler exit and the mouth. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of type and shape of spacer on the aerosolization performance of MDIs.
  
  
  METHODS
  A commercial Beclomethasone Dipropionate (BDP) MDI alone or equipped with two different spacer devices (roller and pear type) widely distributed in the world pharmaceutical market was used. The effect of spacers was evaluated by calculating aerosolization indexes such as fine particle fraction (FPF), mass median aerodynamic diameters (MMAD) and geometric standard deviation (GSD) using the next generation impactor.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although one of the spacers resulted in superior outcomes than the other one, but it was not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results confirmed that the type and shape of spacer did not substantially influence the aerosolization performance of MDIs.
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.; School of Pharmacy, International Branch-Aras, Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Sepideh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Momeni
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nokhodchi
authors.affiliation: Zanjan Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology Research Center, and Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran.; Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghanbarzadeh
authors.affiliation: Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamed
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hamishehkar
keywords: Beclomethasone; MDI; Metered dose inhaler; Pulmonary drug delivery; Spacer