Aerosol Dynamics on Inhalation at High Relative Humidity

肺给药有许多优点，包括减少副作用和更快的治疗效果。然而，由于肺部复杂的生理机能，可吸入药物的配方可能很困难。颗粒必须小于5微米才能到达细支气管，更小的颗粒才能进一步进入肺泡。目前，许多可吸入药物沉积模式的预测都是基于其散装相颗粒的大小，这可能是不准确的，因为肺部的相对湿度（RH）接近100%，远高于环境RH（~40%）。药物颗粒在进入呼吸系统时可能会吸收水分并增大，这可能会改变它们的沉积位置。因此，颗粒的吸湿性会影响药物的治疗效果。以往的研究对各种赋形剂和原料药的吸湿性进行了研究，但由于仪器的限制，吸湿性研究大多是在低RH条件下进行的。该项目旨在使用比较动力学电动平衡（CK-EDB）和光学镊子等新技术来询问辅料和原料药在接近100% RH下的气溶胶动力学。

Pulmonary administration of medications has many advantages, including reduced side effects and faster onset of therapeutic effects. However, formulating for inhalable drugs can be difficult due to the complex physiology of the lungs. The particles have to be below 5 um to reach the bronchioles and even smaller to travel further into the alveoli. Currently, many predictions of the deposition pattern of inhalable medications are based on the size of the particles in theirs bulk phase, which may be inaccurate, as the relative humidity (RH) in the lungs is close to 100%, which is much higher than the ambient RH (~40%). Drug particles may take up water as they enter the respiratory system and grow in size, which may alter their deposition site. Therefore, the hygroscopicity of the particles can affect the therapeutic effect of that medication. Previous studies have looked into the hygroscopicity of various excipients and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), however, due to limitations on the instruments, the hygroscopicity is mostly investigated under a low RH condition. This project aims to use novel techniques such as comparative kinetic electrodynamic balance (CK-EDB) and optical tweezers to interrogate the aerosol dynamics of excipients and APIs at close to 100% RH.