Following application of matrix tablets on porcine buccal mucosa, the amount of discharged drug recovered in the tissue should be sufficient to produce the desired effects, providing therapeutic drug levels directly at the site of action. Aloin-loaded tablets are valid candidates for prevention/treatment of potentially malignant disorders and oral cancer and could potentially lead to clinically relevant drug delivery system as coadjuvant of conventional chemotherapy/radiation therapy.
N-valproyl-L-tryptophan (VPA-Tryp), new antiepileptic drug, was tested on CA1 hippocampal epileptiform bursting activity obtained by increasing potassium and lowering calcium and magnesium concentrations in the fluid perfusing rat brain slices. Each slice was treated with a single concentration (0.2, 0.5, 1 or 2 mM) of Valproate (VPA) or VPA-Tryp. Both burst duration and interburst frequency during and after treatment were off-line compared with baseline values. For both parameters, the latency and the length of statistically significant response periods as well as the magnitude of drug-induced responses were calculated. VPA-Tryp evoked fewer and weaker early excitatory effects than VPA on bursting activity. On the contrary, VPA-Tryp induced powerful and long-lasting inhibitory effects on epileptiform discharge in a significantly higher number of slices than VPA. In fact, greater length and magnitude of VPA-Tryp-induced inhibition on both interburst frequency and burst duration were observed. Furthermore, VPA-Tryp showed antiepileptic activity at lower concentration than VPA and, when testing both drugs at analogue concentrations, VPA-Tryp evoked responses with either shorter latency or greater effect length and magnitude than VPA.
Levodopa (l-DOPA) is the most effective pharmacologic agent in Parkinson's disease and remains the "gold standard". Nevertheless, in long-term treatments, dyskinesias and motor complications can emerge. In this work, the combined use of l-DOPA methylester hydrochloride prodrug (LDME) with transbuccal drug delivery was supposed as a good alternative method to optimize the bioavailability of l-DOPA, to maintain constant plasma levels and to decrease the drug unwanted effects. The effects of environmental pH on buccal delivery of LDME were evaluated ex vivo. The increase of pH value from 5.8 to 6.2 implies an improvement of drug permeation. Since the pH increase causes the raising of hydrolytic conversion of LDME to l-DOPA, the pH value 6.2 was considered as a good compromise between drug stability and permeation rate. It was found that during the passage through the biological tissue, LDME undergoes a primary conversion to l-DOPA catalyzed by membrane's enzymes. Supplementation of delivery with Tween 80® produces substantial enhancement of LDME passage through the membrane. The drug could be loaded in the IntelliDrug mechatronic device, released close to the buccal mucosa, so achieving and maintaining constant therapeutic blood levels for extensive time.
Valproic acid (VPA) is considered first-line drug in treatment of generalized idiopathic seizures such as absence, generalized tonic-clonic and myoclonic seizures. Among major antiepileptic drugs, VPA is also considered effective in childhood epilepsies and infantile spasms. Due to its broad activity, VPA acts as a mood stabilizer in bipolar disorder and it is useful in migraine prophylaxis. Despite its long-standing usage, severe reactions to VPA, such as liver toxicity and teratogenicity, are reported. To circumvent side effects due to structural characteristics of VPA, we synthesized in good yield a new VPA-aminoacid conjugate, the N-valproyl-L-Phenylalanine, and characterized by FT-IR, MS, (13)C and (1)H- NMR analyses. The Log D(pH7.4) value (0.19) indicated that new molecule was potentially able to cross biological membranes. The resistance to chemical and enzymatic hydrolysis of N-valproyl-L-phenylalanine was also assessed. All trials suggested that the compound, at the pH conditions of the entire gastro-intestinal tract, remained unmodified. Furthermore, the new compound did not undergo enzymatic cleavage both in plasma and in cerebral medium up to 24 h. The toxicity assay on primary cultures of astrocytes indicated that the synthetized conjugate was less toxic than both free VPA and L-Phenylalanine. In this paper, the anticonvulsant activity of the new compound against epileptic burst discharges evoked in vitro in rat hippocampal slices was also evaluated. These preliminary results underline that N-valproyl-L-phenylalanine as new potential antiepileptic agent could represent a good candidate to further investigations.
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