BACKGROUND: Cost savings can be achieved with the practice of tablet splitting. Previous research has shown weight nonuniformity within tablet halves. However, limited research to date has found that the potential dose inaccuracy resulting from splitting tablets does not significantly affect clinical outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To determine the drug content and weight in split half-tablets of 6 commonly split medications using drug assay analysis. METHODS: This study was performed by 2 fourth-year pharmacy students using 30 randomly selected tablets of each of the following 6 medications: warfarin sodium 5 milligrams (mg), simvastatin 80 mg, metoprolol succinate 200 mg, metoprolol tartrate 25 mg, citalopram 40 mg, and lisinopril 40 mg. A randomly selected half of the tablets were split by a single pharmacy student using a tablet cutter, and the remaining tablets were kept whole. Drug content was analyzed for 15 whole tablets and 30 half-tablets for each of the 6 drugs using high performance liquid chromatography, an analytical tool used to identify and quantify substances in solution. Drug content uniformity was assessed by comparing drug content within halftablets with one-half of the drug content mean found for all whole tablets in the sample. Weight uniformity was assessed by comparing half-tablet weights, as determined by a Mettler analytical balance, with one-half of the mean weight for whole tablets in the sample. The percentages by which each whole tablet's or half-tablet's drug content and weight differed from sample mean values were compared with proxy United States Pharmacopeia (USP) specification ranges for drug content (95%-105% for warfarin sodium and 90%-110% for the other 5 drugs). Additionally, these outcomes were compared for nonscored versus scored tablets. The percent relative standard deviation (%RSD, ratio of the standard deviation to the mean), a commonly used measure of the repeatability and precision of assays used to analyze drug content, was also calculated in order to determine whether the drugs met proxy USP specification for %RSD (less than 6% for all drugs studied). RESULTS: A total of 43 of 180 half-tablets (23.9%) differed from sample mean values by a percentage that fell outside of proxy USP specification for drug content; warfarin sodium (11 of 30 half-tablets, 36.7%), simvastatin (3 of 30 half-tablets, 10.0%) metoprolol succinate (10 of 30 half-tablets, 33.3%), metoprolol tartrate (4 of 30 half-tablets, 13.3%), citalopram (5 of 30 half-tablets, 16.7%), and lisinopril (10 of 30 half-tablets, 33.3%). Half-tablets outside of proxy USP specification for weight included warfarin sodium (10 of 30 half-tablets, 33.3%), metoprolol succinate (6 of 30 half-tablets, 20%), and lisinopril (7 of 30 half-tablets, 23.3%). The %RSDs for drug content and weight fell outside of the proxy USP specification for %RSD for metoprolol succinate (drug content = 8.98%, weight = 7.70%) and lisinopril (drug content = 10.41%, weight = 8.13%). Mean percent weight loss after splitting was less than 1% for al...

Sulforaphane (SFN) is a natural compound that has been investigated as a chemopreventive agent. SFN has been shown to inhibit the activator-protein-1 (AP-1) transcription factor and may be effective for inhibition of ultraviolet (UV) induced skin carcinogenesis. This study was designed to investigate the stability of SFN as a function of pH, temperature and in various solvents and formulations. SFN was determined to undergo apparent first order degradation kinetics for the conditions explored. It was observed that SFN undergoes base catalyzed degradation. Buffer species and solvent type impacts stability as well. SFN was found to be very sensitive to temperature with degradation rate changing by a factor of nearly 3.1 for every 10°C change in temperature (at pH 4.0). SFN completely degraded after 30 days in a conventional pharmaceutical cream formulation. Improved stability was observed in organic formulation components. Stability studies were conducted on two non-aqueous topical formulations, a polyethylene glycol (PEG) ointment base and an organic oleaginous base. Topically applied SFN in the PEG base formulation significantly reduced AP-1 activation after UV stimulation in the skin of a transgenic mouse model, indicating that SFN in this formulation retains efficacy in vivo.

Piperlongumine is a natural alkaloid extracted from piper plants which has been used traditionally for the treatment of certain diseases. This compound shows interesting in vitro pharmacological activity such as selective anticancer activity and higher cytotoxicity than methotrexate, cyclophosphamide and adriamycin on breast, colon, and osteosarcoma cancers, respectively. However, the physicochemical properties for this compound have not been well characterized. In this research, preformulation studies for piperlongumine have been performed to determine factors which influence solubility and stability which, in turn, can be used to assist future formulation development. The solubility of piperlongumine in water was found to be approximately 26 μg/ml. Using 10% polysorbate 80 as a surfactant resulted in a 27 fold increase in solubility. Cosolvents and cyclodextrins afforded concentrations of 1 mg/ml and higher. The pH degradation rate profile for piperlongumine at various temperatures shows significant instability of the drug at pH values ≥ 7 and 3, and maximum stability around pH 4. It was estimated that it would take approximately 17 weeks for piperlongumine to degrade by 10% at 25°C, pH 4. Additionally, piperlongumine showed marked photo-degradation upon exposure to an ultraviolet light source, especially in aqueous media.

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Recent findings suggested that Clinical Endocannabinoid Deficiency underlies the pathophysiology of pain disorders, including migraine and headache. In models of medication overuse headache induced by sustained administration of sumatriptan or morphine, 2-AG levels were selectively depleted in the periaqueductal gray (PAG) and anandamide (AEA) increased in the cortex suggesting distinct regulation of the endocannabinoid system during headache pain. These results led to the hypothesis that blockade of DAGL, to reduce 2-AG levels would induce headache-like behaviors as a new, translationally relevant model of episodic headache. Our study investigated whether non-selective and selective blockade of DAGL, the main biosynthetic enzyme for 2-AG, induced periorbital and hind-paw allodynia, photophobia, anxiety-like behaviors, responsivity to abortive anti-migraine agents, and 2-AG/AEA levels. Injection of non-selective DAGL (DH376, 10 mg/kg, IP) and selective DAGLα (LEI106, 20 mg/kg, IP) inhibitors, but not DAGLβ agents, induced facial sensitivity in 100% and ∼60% of female and male rats, respectively, without induction of peripheral sensitivity. Notably, male rats showed significantly less sensitivity than female rats after DAGLα inhibition, suggesting sexual dimorphism in this mechanism. Importantly, LEI106 induced periorbital allodynia was attenuated by administration of the clinically available abortive antimigraine agents, sumatriptan and olcegepant. Selective DAGLα inhibition induced significant photophobia as measured by the light-dark box, without anxiety like behaviors or changes in voluntary movement. Analysis of AEA and 2-AG levels at the time of peak pain sensitivity revealed reductions in 2-AG in the visual cortex and periaqueductal gray (PAG), without altering anandamide or significantly increasing diacylglycerol levels. These results provide foundational evidence for DAGL-2AG in the induction of headache-like pain and photophobia without extracephalic allodynia, thus modeling the clinical episodic migraine. Mechanistically, behavioral measures of headache sensitivity after DAGL inhibition suggests that reduced 2-AG signaling in the cortex and PAG, but not the trigeminal nucleus caudalis or trigeminal ganglia, drives headache initiation. Therefore, episodic DAGL inhibition, which reduces the time, cost, and invasiveness of currently accepted models of headache, may fill the need for episodic migraine/headache models mirroring clinical presentation. Moreover, use of this approach may provide an avenue to study the transition from episodic to chronic headache.