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A new method is introduced that allows drug release and liquid absorption to be studied simultaneously. The drug release is measured by the alternating ionic current (AIC) method, and the study of liquid uptake is accomplished with a sensitive microbalance from a processor tensiometer. We show that the method can be employed to study anomalous diffusion in the initial phase of the drug release process of disintegrating systems. We also demonstrate that the diffusion layer thickness and the diffusion coefficient in a dissolving system can be obtained with the new measurement technique.

A novel method for the investigation of drug formulations in limited liquid volumes is presented. The experimental setup consists of a measurement cell containing an absorbent sponge cloth placed between two parallel electrodes. Conductivity measurements are used to monitor the drug release from the dosage form. By varying the amount of water contained in the absorbent cloth surrounding the dosage form, it is possible to measure the drug release performance of the dosage form in very limited amounts of water. The method was employed to test four different tablet formulations consisting of the model drug NaCl incorporated in excipient matrices of hard fat, polyethylene glycol, microcrystalline cellulose and a mixture of microcrystalline cellulose and croscarmellose sodium (Ac-Di-Sol). The drug release rates of the different formulations in limited water volumes differed markedly from the release rates in an excess of water. Whereas the release rates from all tablet types in an excess of water showed only minor differences among the tablet types, the release rates from the tablets formulated with disintegrating e

A method to quantify the density of viable biological cells in suspensions is presented. The method is implemented by low-frequency impedance spectroscopy and based on the finding that immobilized ions are released to move freely in the surrounding suspension when viable Escherichia coli cells are killed by a heat shock. The presented results show that an amount of ions corresponding to 2 × 10⁸ unit charges are released per viable bacterium killed. A micro probe station with coplanar Ti electrodes was electrically characterized and used as a measuring unit for the impedance spectroscopy recordings. This unit is compatible with common microfabrication techniques and should enable the presented method to be employed using a flow-cell device for viable bacteria counting in miniaturized on-line monitoring systems.

Broadband dielectric spectroscopy was used to investigate the bulk molecular dynamics of a recently developed biodegradable biomimetic ionomer potentially useful for biomedical applications. Isothermal dielectric spectra were gathered for a phosphoryl choline (PC)-functionalized poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) ionomer and unfunctionalized PTMC at temperatures ranging from 2 to 60 degrees C over a broad frequency range of 10(-3) to 10(6) Hz. Four relaxations were clearly identified, two of which were shown to stem from the PTMC polymer backbone. A detailed analysis showed that the formation of zwitterionic aggregates was responsible for the material's bulk functionality and that bulk conduction processes may provide useful information for assessing the PC ionomer as a candidate for drug delivery applications. Finally, it was concludedthat absorbed water concentrates around the aggregates, resulting in an increased mobility of the PC end-groups.

Low frequency limitations of a recently developed method for identification of complex modulus utilizing the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) technique were investigated using computer simulations. Specifically, the effects of truncation, noise and discretization were examined. It was shown that the low frequency limitation of the method generally corresponds to the inverse of the length of the time signal. Further, it was shown that all three factors have an effect on the low frequency accuracy of the method and that careful consideration of these factors is necessary to optimize the capability of the method. Finally, it was shown how averaging techniques can be implemented to reduce the undesirable effects of truncation and noise.

A newly developed method for determining the frequency-dependent complex Young's modulus was employed to analyze the mechanical response of compacted microcrystalline cellulose, sorbitol, ethyl cellulose and starch for frequencies up to 20 kHz. A Debye-like relaxation was observed in all the studied pharmaceutical excipient materials and a comparison with corresponding dielectric spectroscopy data was made. The location in frequency of the relaxation peak was shown to correlate to the measured tensile strength of the tablets, and the relaxation was interpreted as the vibrational response of the interparticle hydrogen and van der Waals bindings in the tablets. Further, the measured relaxation strength, holding information about the energy loss involved in the relaxation processes, showed that the weakest material in terms of tensile strength, starch, is the material among the four tested ones that is able to absorb the most energy within its structure when exposed to external perturbations inducing vibrations in the studied frequency range. The results indicate that mechanical relaxation analysis performed over relatively broad frequency ranges should be useful for predicting material properties of importance for the functionality of a material in applications such as, e.g., drug delivery, drug storage and handling, and also for clarifying the origin of hitherto unexplained molecular processes.