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A study of microemulsions as prolonged-release injectables through in-situ phase transition

Overview of attention for article published in Journal of Controlled Release, December 2013
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Title
A study of microemulsions as prolonged-release injectables through in-situ phase transition
Published in
Journal of Controlled Release, December 2013
DOI 10.1016/j.jconrel.2013.11.022
Pubmed ID
Authors

Zimei Wu, Raid G. Alany, Noor Tawfeek, James Falconer, Wenli Zhang, Ibrahim M. Hassan, Michael Rutland, Darren Svirskis

Abstract

Microemulsions (MEs) have been studied extensively as colloidal carriers for the delivery of both water-soluble and lipid-soluble drugs. Our previous study showed that addition of water to ME formulations resulted in phase transition to either liquid crystal (LC) or coarse emulsion (CE). The aim of this study was to investigate whether these MEs could be used as drug delivery vehicles for prolonged release through in-situ phase transition following extravascular injection. Three ME formulations from the same pseudo-ternary phase diagram were investigated with respect to their phase transition behavior, and in-vivo drug release; a coarse emulsion-forming ME (CE-ME), an oil rich LC-forming ME (LC-ME1), and an oil poor LC-forming ME (LC-ME2). CE-ME was a W/O ME and both LC-MEs were O/W type. The release profiles of (99m)Tc labeled MEs following subcutaneous (SC) injection in rabbits were investigated with gamma-scintigraphy. The CE-ME dispersed readily in water, forming a CE, whereas the LC-forming MEs formed 'depots' in water. Polarized microscopy revealed a LC boundary spontaneously formed at the water/ME interface for the LC-MEs with the LC-ME2 forming a substantially thicker LC layer. The CE resulting from the water-induced transition of the CE-forming ME had a higher viscosity than the MEs, but lower than the LCs resulted from LC-MEs. Compared to LC-ME1, LC-ME2 underwent more rapid phase transition and the resultant LC had significant higher viscosity. The LCs formed from both ME formulations exhibited pseudoplastic properties; increasing the shear rate decreased the apparent viscosity exponentially. Following SC injection into the animal thigh, the LC-MEs had more prolonged release of (99m)Tc in a first-order manner, than CE-ME. The oil poor LC-ME2 had the slowest release with a t1/2 of 77min, 2.3 times longer than the oil rich LC-ME1; consistent with the thickness of LC layer formation observed in-vitro and their relative viscosities. In conclusion, the present in-vivo study has demonstrated the application of MEs as extravascular injectable drug delivery systems for sustained release. The retention of the vehicles at the injection site and the release rate were determined predominantly by their phase transition rather than ME type or oil content.

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Mendeley readers

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The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 40 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United Kingdom 1 3%
Unknown 39 98%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 9 23%
Researcher 7 18%
Student > Master 6 15%
Student > Doctoral Student 3 8%
Student > Bachelor 2 5%
Other 5 13%
Unknown 8 20%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 13 33%
Medicine and Dentistry 6 15%
Chemical Engineering 2 5%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 2 5%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 2 5%
Other 6 15%
Unknown 9 23%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 December 2013.
All research outputs
#22,758,309
of 25,373,627 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Controlled Release
#8,647
of 9,727 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#282,067
of 320,229 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Controlled Release
#75
of 81 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,373,627 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 9,727 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.9. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 320,229 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 81 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.