Predicting the behavior of novel sugar carriers for dry powder inhaler formulations via the use of a cohesive-adhesive force balance approach.

The aim of this work was to utilize the recently developed cohesive-adhesive balance (CAB) technique for analyzing quantitative AFM measurements to compare the relative forces of interaction of micronized salbutamol sulfate particles and a selection of specifically grown sugar substrates (beta cyclodextrin, lactose, raffinose, trehalose and xylitol). The interfacial behavior was subsequently related to the in-vitro delivery performance of these sugars as carrier particles in dry powder inhalation (DPI) formulations. The CAB analysis indicated that the rank order of adhesion between salbutamol sulfate and the sugars was beta cyclodextrin < lactose < trehalose < raffinose < xylitol. The beta cyclodextrin was the only substrate with which salbutamol sulfate demonstrated a greater cohesive behavior. All other sugars exhibited an adhesive dominance. In-vitro deposition performance of the salbutamol sulfate based carrier DPI formulations showed that the rank order of the fine particle fraction (FPF) was beta cyclodextrin > lactose > raffinose > trehalose > xylitol. A linear correlation (R(2) = 0.9572) was observed between the FPF and cohesive-adhesive ratios of the AFM force measurements. The observed link between CAB analysis of the interactive forces and in-vitro performance of carrier based formulations suggested a fundamental understanding of the relative balance of the various forces of interaction within a dry powder formulation may provide a critical insight into the behavior of these formulations.