Aerosol Dynamics on Inhalation at High Relative Humidity

肺部给药具有许多优点，包括减少副作用和更快的治疗效果。然而，由于肺的复杂生理学，配制可吸入药物可能是困难的。颗粒必须低于5 μ m才能到达细支气管，甚至更小才能进一步进入肺泡。目前，可吸入药物的沉积模式的许多预测是基于颗粒在其本体相中的尺寸，这可能是不准确的，因为肺中的相对湿度（RH）接近100%，这比环境RH（~40%）高得多。药物颗粒在进入呼吸系统时可能会吸收水分并变大，这可能会改变其沉积部位。因此，颗粒的吸湿性会影响药物的治疗效果。先前的研究已经研究了各种辅料和活性药物成分（API）的吸湿性，但是，由于仪器的限制，吸湿性主要在低RH条件下进行研究。该项目旨在使用新技术，如比较动力学电动平衡（CK-EDB）和光镊，在接近100%RH的条件下询问辅料和API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.