Optimization of Carrier-Based Dry Powder Inhaler Performance: A Review.

Dry powder inhalers (DPI's) are becoming increasingly popular due to growing interest in pulmonary drug delivery and their performance is the net result of a series of processes carried out during the formulation development and manufacturing process such as excipient selection, blending, milling, filling, and spray drying. To reach the small airways of the deep lung, the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) particles need to have an aerodynamic diameter of 1-5 μm to avoid impaction and particle sedimentation in the upper respiratory tract, and due to this small particle size, the powder becomes highly cohesive resulting in poor flow. Therefore, API is usually blended with a coarse carrier to improve flowability, and due to its large size, it is more fluidizable than the micronized drug.

Tubules, Rods, and Spirals: Diverse Modes of SepF-FtsZ Assembling.

Z-ring formation by FtsZ, the master assembler of the divisome, is a key step in bacterial cell division. Membrane anchoring of the Z-ring requires the assistance of dedicated Z-ring binding proteins, such as SepF and FtsA. SepF participates in bundling and membrane anchoring of FtsZ in gram-positive bacteria.

The Particle Drifting Effect: A Combined Function of Colloidal and Drug Properties.

The particle drifting effect, where nanosized colloidal drug particles overcome the diffusional resistance of the aqueous boundary layer adjacent to the intestinal wall and increase drug absorption rates, is drawing increasing attention in pharmaceutical research. However, mechanistic understanding and accurate prediction of the particle drifting effect remain lacking. In this study, we systematically evaluated the extent of the particle drifting effect affected by drug and colloidal properties, including the size, number, and type of the moving species using biphasic diffusion experiments combined with computational fluid dynamics simulations and mass transport analyses.

Exploring the role of macromolecular crowding and TNFR1 in cell volume control.

The excessive cosolute densities in the intracellular fluid create a physicochemical condition called macromolecular crowding (MMC). Intracellular MMC entropically maintains the biochemical thermodynamic equilibria by favoring associative reactions while hindering transport processes. Rapid cell volume shrinkage during extracellular hypertonicity elevates the MMC and disrupts the equilibria, potentially ushering cell death.