Impact of spray-drying on the pili of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG.

The preservation of the viability of microorganisms in probiotic formulations is the most important parameter ensuring the adequate concentration of live microorganisms at the time of administration. The formulation and processing techniques used to produce these probiotic formulations can influence the preservation of the microbial viability. However, it is also required that the bacteria maintain their key probiotic capacities during processing, formulation and shelf life.

Ultrasound-assisted extraction optimization and validation of an HPLC-DAD method for the quantification of polyphenols in leaf extracts of Cecropia species.

Cecropia species are traditionally used in Latin American folk medicine and are available as food supplements with little information warranting their quality. The optimum conditions for the extraction of chlorogenic acid (CA), total flavonoids (TF) and flavonolignans (FL) from leaves of Cecropia species were determined using a fractional factorial design (FFD) and a central composite design (CCD). A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method coupled to a diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) was validated for the quantification of CA, TF and FL, following the ICH guidelines.

Enhancing the viability of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG after spray drying and during storage.

Increasing knowledge about the human microbiome has led to a growing awareness of the potential of applying probiotics to improve our health. The pharmaceutical industry shows an emerging interest in pharmaceutical formulations containing these beneficial microbes, the so-called pharmabiotics. An important manufacturing step is the drying of the probiotics, as this can increase the stability and shelf life of the finished pharmabiotic product.

Drying techniques of probiotic bacteria as an important step towards the development of novel pharmabiotics.

The increasing knowledge about the human microbiome leads to the awareness of how important probiotics can be for our health. Although further substantiation is required, it appears that several pathologies could be treated or prevented by the administration of pharmaceutical formulations containing such live health-beneficial bacteria. These pharmabiotics need to provide their effects until the end of shelf life, which can be optimally achieved by drying them before further formulation.

Evaluation of a newly developed HPMC ophthalmic insert with sustained release properties as a carrier for thermolabile therapeutics.

A novel drug delivery system (DDS) with sustained release properties was developed to allow ocular protein delivery. The DDS developed is aimed at overcoming stability issues during preparation such as denaturation of proteins caused by shear forces applied or due to elevated temperatures and air entrapment potentially causing oxidation of the molecule. The rod-shaped HPMC inserts were loaded with lysozyme and several HPMC types were studied and compared.