Aim The objectives of the present study were to prepare stealthy vincristine plus quinacrine liposomes and evaluate the pharmacokinetics in Sprague-Dawley rats. Methods Anti-resistant stealthy liposomes were prepared by incorporating vincristine with quinacrine together using the ammonium sulfate gradient loading procedure. For the pharmacokinetic study, Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups： each rat in the Group Ⅰwas administered intravenously via tail vein as stealthy liposomal vincristine plus quinacrine, and the Group Ⅱ similarly given as a mixture solution of free vincristine plus free quinacrine. The concentrations of vincristine and quinacrine in plasma were measured by HPLC with diode array detection and fluorescence detection, respectively. Results The mean particle size of stealthy liposomes was 135.9 ±7.1 nm and the encapsulation efficiencies of stealthy liposomes were 〉 90% for vincristine, and 〉 85% for quinacrine, respectively. Administered as the stealthy vincristine plus quinacrine liposomes, the plasma exposures of both vincristine and quinacrine were significantly extended, and the mean concentrations of both vincristine and quinacrine were significantly higher compared to those given as the mixture solution of free vincristine plus free quinacrine. The Cmax, t1/2, AUC0-24 h values of vincristine for stealthy liposomal group were significantly increased, but the total clearance Cl values decreased, as compared to those of free drug group, respectively. Similarly, the Cmax, t1/2 and AUC0-24 h values of quinacrine for the stealthy liposomal group were significantly increased, but the total clearance C1 values decreased, as compared to those of free quinacrine. Conclusion The anti-resistant stealthy liposomes are successfully prepared by incorporating vincristine with quinacrine, and the liposomes extend significantly the duration in blood circulation and improve evidently the plasma concentrations of both vincristine and quinacrine.
The clinical pharmacokinetics of ribavirin after a single oral dose of 600 mg ribavirin tablets in healthy Chinese volunteers was studied. A rapid and simple high performance liquid chromatography （HPLC） method was developed to determine the ribavirin concentration in human plasma. C18 column was used for separation with a column temperature of 25℃, the mobile phase was ultrapure water adjusted to pH 3 with acetic acid at the flow rate of 1 mL/min, and the detection wavelength was set at 207 rim. The linear range of the standard curves was 50.4-2016.0 ng/mL and the lower limit of quantification （LLOQ） was 50.4 ng/mL. The relative recoveries of ribavirin were more than 90% in plasma. The RSD of the intra-day precision was less than 10% and that of inter-day was less than 15%. The pharmacokinetic parameters of ribavirin were calculated by WinNonlin. Results indicated that the two-compartment model was a better model for describing the pharmacokinetics profile of ribavirin than one-compartment model. The AUC0-t was 10807.8 h.ng/mL, the CL/F was 64879.5 mL, and the Cmax was 525.1 ng/mL. These results provided the experimental data for the development of ribavirin dosage form.
Aim To evaluate liposome as an injectable delivery system of proteins, insulin was chosen as model drug and the hypoglycemic effect of PEG-coated liposomal insulin was tested.Methods The PEG-coated liposomal insulin was prepared by reversal-phase emulsion evaporation.For pharmacodynamic study, insulin (2.5 IU*kg-1) was intravenously administered in phosphated-buffered saline (PBS) solution, conventional liposomes, and PEG-coated liposomes, separately, to normal Wistar rats.Blood glucose levels were determined by the glucose oxidase method.Results The mean diameter of the PEG-coated liposomal insulin was 58.4 nm, while the encapsulation ratio reached 18.33%.After intravenous administration of insulin solution, insulin liposome, and PEG-coated liposomal insulin, the minimum blood glucose concentrations (Cmin %) reached 25.26±5.75%, 33.92±12.42%, and 42.39±10.5% of the initial level, respectively, and the time periods to reach the minimum blood glucose level (Tmin) were 0.7±0.3 h, 1.2±0.4 h, and 2.3±0.7 h, respectively.The relative pharmacological bioavailabilities of insulin liposome and PEG-coated liposomal insulin were 98.03% and 99.70%, respectively, compared with the control of insulin solution.Conclusion PEG-coated liposome can be developed as a relatively sustained injectable delivery system for insulin.Moreover, the liposome coated with PEG may have advantages over normal liposome.
Oral nanoparticles play an important role in improving the bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drug. It is necessary to investigate the interaction of nanoparticles with intestinal epithelial cells. In general, nano-carriers labeled with fluorescent probes are always chosen. However, fluorescent dye via physical loading may leak in complex biological environment and lose its function to trace the transport behavior ofnanoparticles. Fluorescent probes chemically coupled on the nanoparticles may alter the properties of nanoparticles. Therefore, a facile and exact detection method is required to trace intracellular and transcellular pathways of oral nano-medicines. In our study, gold nanoparticles were selected as nano-carriers owing to their unique characteristics of light scattering. The feasibility of gold nanoparticle detection through reflected light signal was tested in different situations, including gold nanoparticle solution, cell and animal level As a result, high resolution image of gold nanoparticles could be detected through reflection mode by confocal laser scanning microscope （CLSM） when excited at a wavelength of 633 nm. The reflected light signal of gold nanoparticles could be clearly shown in different intestinal epithelial cells no matter when they were in fixed or in living state, and the intracellular trafficking and distribution of gold nanoparticles were clearly shown in three-dimensional image. Meanwhile, this method was also applied to rat small intestine in vivo. In conclusion, we believed that this technique was a convenient and precise way to explore the transport behavior of gold nanoparticles via oral administration without fluorescent dye.
