Quantifying the hygroscopic properties of cyclodextrin containing aerosol for drug delivery to the lungs.

Aerosol dynamics is important to quantify in drug delivery to the lungs with the aim of delivering therapeutics to a target location and optimising drug efficacy. The macrocycle (2-hydroxypropyl)-β-cyclodextrin (2-HP-β-CD) is thought to alleviate symptoms associated with neurodegenerative diseases when inhaled but the hygroscopic response is not well understood. Here we measure the hygroscopic growth of individual aqueous aerosol containing 2-HP-β-CD in optical tweezers through analysis of morphology-dependent resonances arising in Raman spectra.