Incorporation of salbutamol in solid lipid microparticles

The aim of the study was to evaluate the potential of using solid lipid microparticles (SLM) for the delivery of controlled release formulation to the respiratory tract. salbutamol was chosen as a drug since it is widely used for the treatment of bronchial asthma. SLM, containing, salbutamol, were prepared using stearic acid as the lipidic materialand phosphatidylcholine as the surfactant, by the classical melt emulsification method and or the spray congealing technique with pneumatic atomizer. Initial release studies on the SLM obtained with the traditional method indicated the lack of release modulation, with 90% of salbutamol released after 5 min. This can be traced to the hydrophilic characteristics of the drug. In order to overcome this limitation, the spray congealing technique was employed. release studies performed on the SLM produced by the spray congealing method showed a significant reduction in release, with only 65% of the drug released after 24 h. The obtained results demonstrated that for polar drug the preparation technique plays a major role in the lipid microparticle incorporation process. This effect could be attributed to the fact that the fprmer production method permits better drug entrapment within the particles.