For a capillary aerosol generation system, the mechanisms governing droplet transport from the capillary tip through deposition in an enclosed geometry have not been previously explored. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a CFD model of transport and deposition for capillary-generated albuterol in water aerosols in a standard USP induction port used for pharmaceutical aerosol testing. Within this system, comparisons have been made between experimental measurements and numerical predictions of the jet angle, aerosol deposition in a sectioned induction port model, and size distributions of exiting particles. The CFD model employed accounts for multiscale and multicomponent flow initialized at the 57 µm capillary tip and extending through the USP induction port with 30 L/min of co-flow air. A discrete Lagrangian particle tracking algorithm with corrections for near-wall anisotropic turbulence has been implemented to model the polydisperse particle phase including the effects of turbulent dispersion and evaporation. Results indicated good agreement between predictions of the numerical model and experimental in vitro measurements. The experimental mean (SD) total mass fraction of drug deposited in the sectioned induction port was 14.6 (1.1)%. Numerical predictions of deposited mass fraction for non-evaporating particles and evaporating droplets were 13.1% and 13.3%, respectively, resulting in relative differences of 10.3% and 8.9%. Comparisons between in vitro measurements and predictions within individual sections of the induction port resulted in relative differences as low at 0.75%. The predicted mass median diameters exiting the induction port for the particle and evaporating droplet models were 3.07 and 3.45 µm, respectively, in comparison to an experimental value of 3.06 µm. The numerical model developed in this study can be applied to optimize the capillary aerosol generation process and improve its delivery of aerosols to the lung.

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Both the in vitro and numerical results indicated that extending the generation time of the spray aerosol, delivered at a constant mass flow rate, significantly reduced deposition in the IP and more realistic MT geometry. Specifically, increasing the generation time of the CAG system from 1 to 4 sec reduced the deposition fraction in the IP and MT geometries by approximately 60 and 33%, respectively. Furthermore, the CFD predictions of deposition fraction were found to be in good agreement with the in vitro results for all times considered in both the IP and MT geometries. The numerical results indicated that the reduction in deposition fraction over time was associated with temporal dissipation of what was termed the spray aerosol "burst effect." Based on these results, increasing the spray aerosol generation time, at a constant mass flow rate, may be an effective strategy for reducing deposition in the standard IP and in more realistic MT geometries.

Phoslactomycins (PLMs) represent an unusual structural class of natural products secreted by various streptomycetes, containing an alpha,beta-unsaturated delta-lactone, an amino group, phosphate ester, conjugated diene and a cyclohexane ring. Phosphazomycins, phospholines and leustroducsins contain the same structural moieties, varying only in the acyl substituent at the C-18 hydroxyl position. These compounds possess either antifungal or antitumor activities or both. The antitumor activity of the PLM class of compounds has been attributed to a potent and selective inhibition of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). The cysteine-269 residue of PP2Ac-subunit has been shown to be the site of covalent modification by PLMs. In this article, we review previous work on the isolation, structure elucidation and biological activities of PLMs and related compounds and current status of our work on both PLM stability and genetic manipulation of the biosynthetic process. Our work has shown that PLM B is surprisingly stable in solution, with a pH optimum of 6. Preliminary biosynthetic studies utilizing isotopically labeled shikimic acid and cyclohexanecarboxylic acid (CHC) suggested PLM B to be a polyketide-type antibiotic synthesized using CHC as a starter unit. Using a gene (chcA) from a set of CHC-CoA biosynthesis genes from Streptomyces collinus as a probe, a 75 kb region of 29 ORFs encoding PLM biosynthesis was located in the genome of Streptomyces sp. strain HK803. Analysis and subsequent manipulation of plmS2 and plmR2 in the gene cluster has allowed for rational engineering of a strain that produces only one PLM analog, PLM B, at ninefold higher titers than the wild type strain. A strain producing PLM G (the penultimate intermediate in PLMs biosynthesis) has also been generated. Current work is aimed at selective in vitro acylation of PLM G with various carboxylic acids and a precursor-directed biosynthesis in a chcA deletion mutant with the aim of generating novel PLM analogs.

Phoslactomycin B (PLM-B), a potent and selective inhibitor of serine threonine phosphatase is of interest for its antitumor, antifungal and antiviral activity. Described herein is an evaluation of the solution stability of phoslactomycin B at various pH and temperature conditions. Phoslactomycin B was produced from a NPI mutant strain of Streptomyces sp. HK-803 and purified by semi-preparative HPLC. A study of PLM-B degradation was carried out in the pH range of 2 approximately 10 at 30 degrees C and 50 degrees C using an HPLC assay. The PLM-B decomposition was observed to exhibit a U-shaped pH profile and demonstrated both acid and base-catalyzed decomposition. The decomposition could be described by the equation kOBS=kH x 10(-PH) + kOH x 10(pH-14) (kH=45 +/- 7 M(-1) h (-1); kOH= 448+/-73 M(-1h)(-1). PLM-B was found to be most stable at pH 6.63. The major acid and base products were separated and purified. Mass spectroscopic and NMR analysis revealed hydrolysis of the alpha, beta-unsaturated lactone provided the major degradation product under base conditions. Two other products in which hydration of the alpha, beta-unsaturated double bond preceded hydrolysis or methanolysis of the lactone were obtained. Under acidic condition MS and NMR analysis revealed that a dehydration step provided a C9-C11 phosphorinane derivative of PLM-B as one of the major products. The remaining acid degradation products were shown to be mixture of various dehydration products containing an additional double bond in central core of the PLM-B carbon skeleton. The major acid and base degradation products had dramatically reduced antifungal activity despite retaining the same structural core.

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