Nanocarrier Systems for Drug Delivery for the Treatment of Asthma

This book presents work on nanocarrier systems for pulmonary drug delivery for use in the treatment of asthma. Using sucrose as a carrier, liposomes were generated or dispersed in situ from proliposomes within the medical nebulisers investigated. The Pari (air-jet) and the Omron (vibrating-mesh) nebulisers produced large mass and lipid outputs with a large lipid fraction deposited in the lower stage of a two-stage impinger. The Liberty (Ultrasonic) nebuliser failed to deliver more than 6% of the lipid employed.Multilamellar liposomes were generated from ethanol-based proliposomes. The resultant vesicles entrapped 62% of the available salbutamol sulphate compared to only 1.23% entrapped by liposomes made by the thin film method. Aeroneb Pro or Aeroneb Go vibrating-mesh nebulisers generated aerosol droplets of larger volume median diameter and narrower size distribution than the Pari (air-jet) nebuliser. Unlike the vibrating-mesh nebulisers, the performance of the jet nebuliser was independent of formulation. A nebuliser-dependent significant loss of the originally entrapped drug was demonstrated. A customised large mesh Aeroneb Pro reduced the drug losses during nebulisation.