Lactose contaminant as steroid degradation enhancer.

Purpose: By pharmaceutical processes and in the presence of solid excipients physical-chemical changes are known to occur, leading to increased rate of chemical degradation. The purpose of this work was to determine the critical aspects in the stability of a steroid in the presence of a commonly used excipient, lactose.

Methods: A steroid was either mixed or wet granulated with lactose with different particle size.

The consequences of granulate heterogeneity towards breakage and attrition upon fluid-bed drying.

High-shear granulated lactose granulates were dried in a fluid-bed dryer at various conditions. Granules were characterized by water content and size analysis. It is shown that the drying process is very dynamic in terms of growth and breakage phenomena.

Granule characterization during fluid bed drying by development of a near infrared method to determine water content and median granule size.

Purpose: Water content and granule size are recognized as critical process and product quality parameters during drying. The purpose of this study was to enlighten the granule behavior during fluid bed drying by monitoring the major events i.e.

Granule breakage during drying processes.

The drying of wet granules often involves an unwanted and uncontrolled size reduction. Current FDA PAT guidance stresses importance of process control and understanding. The aim of this study is to determine and understand the breakage phenomena during drying processes in order to control these processes.

Ava[L-Pro9,N-MeLeu10] substance P(7-11) (GR 73632) and Sar9, Met(O2)11 increase distention-induced peristalsis through activation of neurokinin-1 receptors on smooth muscle and interstitial cells of cajal.

Substance P is generally considered an excitatory neurotransmitter related to gut motor activity, although an inhibitory influence of neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptor activation on peristalsis has also been reported. With an optimized in vitro method to assess distention-induced peristalsis, our aim was to clarify the effect of NK1 receptor activation on peristaltic activity and to reveal the mechanisms by which NK1 activation alters peristalsis. Distention of the small intestine of the mouse and guinea pig induced periodic occurrence of rhythmic waves of propagating rings of circular muscle contraction, associated with slow waves and superimposed action potentials, that propelled intestinal contents aborally.

Changes in interstitial cells of Cajal at the deep muscular plexus are associated with loss of distention-induced burst-type muscle activity in mice infected by Trichinella spiralis.

The physiology and pathophysiology of the network of interstitial cells of Cajal associated with the deep muscular plexus (ICC-DMP) of the small intestine are still poorly understood. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the effects of inflammation associated with Trichinella spiralis infection on the ICC-DMP and to correlate loss of function with structural changes in these cells and associated structures. We used immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, and assessment of distention-inducing electrophysiological parameters in vitro.