Gallo Loreana, Bucalá Verónica
Planta Piloto de Ingenieria Quimica (PLAPIQUI), CONICET - Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS), Camino La Carrindanga km 7, 8000 Bahia Blanca, Argentina.
Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia, UNS, San Juan 670, 8000 Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
Curr Drug Discov Technol. 2019;16(4):340-354. doi: 10.2174/1570163815666180801152918.
Medicinal plants are used by 80% of the world population as primary health care and the phytomedicine market is growing exponentially. Currently, the production of phytopharmaceuticals with proper efficacy, safety and consistent quality constitutes a relevant challenge. The dried dosage forms of medicinal plants are preferred than liquid presentations because of their higher stability. The spray drying technology is the most employed process to produce dried extracts from medicinal plant liquid extracts. These powders need to meet certain physicochemical (e.g., moisture content, hygroscopicity, particle size, density, the concentration of active ingredients) and mechanical (e.g., flowability and compressibility) properties to be used in a solid pharmaceutical form. In addition, high process yields and good powder quality can be obtained by selecting suitable process parameters: spray drying operating conditions and type/concentration of carriers (drying coadjuvants). The optimal process parameters are strongly affected by the chemical nature of the medicinal plant extract. This review aims to give a general guide to understand the effect of the process parameters on the product properties and process yield. This guideline could help practitioners and researchers to initially select the levels of the process variables to decrease the time and cost of the development stage of medicinal plants powders.
世界上80%的人口将药用植物用作初级卫生保健，植物药市场正呈指数级增长。目前，生产具有适当疗效、安全性和质量一致性的植物药构成了一项重大挑战。药用植物的干燥剂型比液体制剂更受青睐，因为其稳定性更高。喷雾干燥技术是从药用植物液体制备干燥提取物最常用的工艺。这些粉末需要具备某些物理化学性质（如水分含量、吸湿性、粒径、密度、活性成分浓度）和机械性质（如流动性和可压缩性），才能用于固体药物剂型。此外，通过选择合适的工艺参数：喷雾干燥操作条件以及载体（干燥助剂）的类型/浓度，可以获得高工艺收率和良好的粉末质量。最佳工艺参数受到药用植物提取物化学性质的强烈影响。本综述旨在提供一个总体指南，以了解工艺参数对产品性质和工艺收率的影响。该指南可帮助从业者和研究人员初步选择工艺变量的水平，以减少药用植物粉末开发阶段的时间和成本。
