Iron microencapsulation is one of the best approaches to achieve controlled iron release in fortified foods as it not only reduces the apparent organoleptic problems but also increases the bioavailability of iron. The present study was carried out to prepare iron microencapsules using different methods for food fortification. Microencapsules were prepared using liposome, fatty acid esters (FAE), freeze-drying and emulsification methods. Among all the microencapsules, those prepared using FAE method resulted in lowest encapsulation efficiency (EE); however, highest EE was observed for emulsification method. Three microencapsules were selected for fortification of milk, i.e. egg phosphatidylcholine liposomes, sodium alginate (SA) and modified starch microencapsules prepared by freeze-drying method and SA microencapsules prepared by emulsification method that had EE 64.047%, 62.972% and 74.850%, respectively. Sensory analysis revealed that SA and MS microencapsules fortified milk containing 10 mg/L iron, resembled control (unfortified) milk the most as compared to others.Keywords: iron microencapsulation; liposome method; fatty acid ester method; freeze-drying method; emulsification method; fortified milk El microencapsulado del hierro es uno de los mejores métodos para lograr la liberación controlada de hierro en los alimentos fortificados, ya que no solo reduce los problemas organolépticos aparentes sino que también eleva la biodisponibilidad de hierro. El presente estudio se realizó con el fin de preparar microencapsulados de hierro utilizando distintos métodos destinados a fortificar los alimentos. Dichos microencapsulados fueron preparados haciendo uso de liposomas, de ésteres de ácidos grasos (FAE), de la liofilización y de métodos de emulsificación. De todos los microencapsulados obtenidos, los preparados utilizando el método FAE mostraron la eficiencia de encapsulado (EE) más baja, mientras que los elaborados utilizando el método de emulsificación tuvieron la EE más alta. Para la fortificación de la leche se seleccionaron tres microencapsulados, a saber, liposomas de fosfatidilcolina de huevo, alginato de sodio (SA) y microencapsulados de almidón modificado (MS) elaborados por el método de liofilización, y microencapsulados de SA preparados por el método de emulsificación, los cuales mostraron una EE de 64.047%, 62.972% y 74.850%, respectivamente. El análisis sensorial evidenció que la leche fortificada mediante microencapsulados de SA y de MS con un contenido de 10 mg/L de hierro se asemejó más a la leche de control (sin fortificar) que la leche fortificada a través de los demás métodos de fortificación.Palabras claves: Microencapsulado de hierro; método de liposomas; método de ésteres de ácidos grasos; método de liofilización; método de emulsificación; leche fortificada
Continued advancements in the area of technology have helped high throughput screening (HTS) evolve from a linear to parallel approach by performing system level screening. Advanced experimental methods used for HTS at various steps of drug discovery (i.e. target identification, target validation, lead identification and lead validation) can generate data of the order of terabytes. As a consequence, there is pressing need to store, manage, mine and analyze this data to identify informational tags. This need is again posing challenges to computer scientists to offer the matching hardware and software infrastructure, while managing the varying degree of desired computational power. Therefore, the potential of "On-Demand Hardware" and "Software as a Service (SAAS)" delivery mechanisms cannot be denied. This on-demand computing, largely referred to as Cloud Computing, is now transforming the drug discovery research. Also, integration of Cloud computing with parallel computing is certainly expanding its footprint in the life sciences community. The speed, efficiency and cost effectiveness have made cloud computing a 'good to have tool' for researchers, providing them significant flexibility, allowing them to focus on the 'what' of science and not the 'how'. Once reached to its maturity, Discovery-Cloud would fit best to manage drug discovery and clinical development data, generated using advanced HTS techniques, hence supporting the vision of personalized medicine.
Objective: The present study emphasizes the synthesis, optimization, and evaluation of ocular in-situ gel for ophthalmic drug delivery against conjunctivitis. Methods: Pre-formulation studies on the drug and polymers were carried out, which included the study of various physicochemical properties of the drug and drug-polymer compatibility studies. The 12 different formulations were further pre-optimised by Taguchi method for determining the number of influential factors. Furthermore, the formulation optimization was done by using ‘Box–Behnken’ design (BBD) (Design expert 10 software) for assessing the effect of formulation variables on product characteristics viz. viscosity, gelation temperature (GT), and mean release time (MRT). About 13 suggested runs of the experiment were carried out and formulations were optimised. Finally, three batches of the optimised formulation were prepared and evaluated for in vitro drug release, isotonicity of formulation, anti-microbial potential, ocular irritancy, and accelerated stability testing. Results: Pre-formulation study confirmed the purity, solubility, and compatibility of drug measured by λmax, partition coefficient, stability study, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. Taguchi screening method suggested about 12 different formulations and 3 most prominent influential factors including viscosity, GT, and drug release. 13 different formulations designed based on ‘BBD’ method were further optimised by considering the most influential factors suggested by Taguchi screening. The in vitro evaluation of the optimised formulation gave satisfactory results in terms of drug release, and anti-microbial activity. It was found to be isotonic with no ocular irritancy. Further, the preparation immediately transformed from sol to gel upon administration into cul-de-sac region of the eye due to multi-dimensional approaches utilised for in-situ gel formation namely temperature change Pluronic, ion sensitivity due to Gellan-gum, pH sensitivity because of Carbopol. Conclusion: The optimised in-situ gelling ocular drug formulation showed promising potency for ophthalmic drug delivery with no irritancy due to the multifactorial mechanism.
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