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An insight into the impact of thermal process on dissolution profile and physical characteristics of theophylline tablets made through 3d printing compared to conventional methods

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posted on 2023-06-10, 03:48 authored by Nour NashedNour Nashed, Matthew Lam, Taravat Ghafourian, Lluis Pausas, Memory Jiri, Mridul Majumder, Ali Nokhodchi
The dissolution profile is of great importance in drug delivery and is affected by the manufacturing method. Thus, it is important to study the influence of the thermal process on drug release in emerging technologies such as 3D printing-fused deposition modeling (FDM). For this purpose, the characteristics of 3D printed tablets were compared to those of tablets prepared by other thermal methods such as hot-melt extrusion (HME) and non-thermal methods such as physical mixture (PM). Theophylline was used as a drug model and blends of ethyl cellulose (EC) and hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) were used as a matrix former. The solid state of the drug in all formulations was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray powder diffraction, and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy. All studied tablets had the same weight and surface area/volume (SA/V). Dissolution data showed that, for some formulations, printed tablets interestingly had a faster release profile despite having the highest hardness values (>550 N) compared to HME and PM tablets. Porosity investigations showed that 100% infill printed tablets had the highest porosity (~20%) compared to HME (<10%) and PM tablets (=11%). True density records were the lowest in printed tablets (~1.22 g/m3) compared to tablets made from both HME and PM methods (~1.26 g/m3), reflecting the possible increase in polymer specific volume while printing. This increase in the volume of polymer network may accelerate water and drug diffusion from/within the matrix. Thus, it is a misconception that the 3D printing process will always retard drug release based on increased tablet hardness. Hardness, porosity, density, solid-state of the drug, SA/V, weight, and formulation components are all factors contributing to the release profile where the total balance can either slow down or accelerate the release profile.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Biomedicines

ISSN

2227-9059

Publisher

MDPI AG

Issue

6

Volume

10

Page range

1-18

Article number

a1335

Department affiliated with

  • Chemistry Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2022-06-07

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2022-06-07

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2022-06-06

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