Exploring the influence of pulmonary pathological state on the in vivo fate of inhaled microparticles with different structural characteristics.

Currently, marketed inhalation products for treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) have limited time of action due to pulmonary clearance mechanism and short of sustained-release characteristics. Meanwhile, little is known on how the pathological state of PAH affects the in vivo fate of inhaled microparticles. Thus, the objective of this study is to elucidate the influence of pulmonary pathological state on the in vivo behavior of inhaled microparticles with different structural characteristics. Herein, microparticles with different structure, namely dense microspheres (DM), large porous particles (LPPs) and micronized drug-lactose physical mixture were prepared and characterized. Thereafter, influence of pathological state of PAH on their in vivo fate was explored. PAH disease state significantly decreased the BALF retention of DM (healthy vs. model: 23.2 %±2.9 % vs. 13.9 %±4.3 % at 4 h) and LPPs (healthy vs. model: 27.4 %±6.6 % vs. 17.3 ± 3.7 % at 4 h), but no influence on their lung absorption except for LPP group at 4 h. Meanwhile, pathological state of PAH increased systemic exposure of the physical mixture (healthy vs. model: 246.18 ± 63.65 ng/mL∙ h vs. 418.21 ± 79.49 ng/mL∙ h) and DM (healthy vs. model: 99.72 ± 33.79 ng/mL∙ h vs. 307.35 ± 30.39 ng/mL∙ h), but no influence on the LPPs (healthy vs. model: 195.66 ± 29.84 ng/mL∙ h vs. 228.48 ± 40.08 ng/mL∙ h). The LPPs presented the strongest ability to escape macrophage uptake, its systemic exposure remained stable and robust in both healthy and model rats, and its drug absorption in the lung tissue was the highest at 48 h (DM vs. LPPs: 5.6 ± 3.2 µg/g vs.0.6 ± 0.3 µg/g in healthy rats, 5.5 ± 2.0 µ g/g vs.0.96 ± 0.57 µg/g in model rats), thus leading to its prolonged therapeutic effect. In conclusion, influence of pathological state of PAH on the in vivo fate of inhaled microparticles varied based on their structural characteristics, LPPs are promising sustained release carriers for the treatment of PAH with robust performance. This study highlights the importance of taking lung disease state into account when designing inhalation particles.