Comparative evaluation of porous silica based carriers for lipids and liquid drug formulations

Abstract Conversion of liquid and semisolid lipids into free flowing powders is an advantageous technique, as the carriers display high surface area, strong adsorption capacity, ease of processing, and ability to generate lipid loaded free flowing powders which can be converted to solid dosage forms like tablets and capsules. A combination of density, adsorption capacity and desorption is found to be of importance in the selection of the right adsorbent. Adsorbents like magnesium aluminium silicates (MAS), granulated fumed silica (GFS) and mesoporous silica gel (MSG) were characterized by flow property measurements, particle size, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and pore structure by mercury (Hg) intrusion study. SEM results reveal adsorbent morphology, whereas an intrusion-extrusion study reveal pore size distributions. Tablets and capsules of oil loaded adsorbents were prepared by conventional methods. Oil loaded adsorbents were evaluated for the ability to convert oil into powder, easy of processing into tablets and capsules, and release of the loaded oil (Vitamin E) or active (Glyburide). All adsorbents possess good flow property while MSG has higher density than GFS and MAS. This helps to deliver maximum active per unit volume. A wider pore size distribution of MAS was observed in comparison to MSG and GFS. MAS exhibited poor oil release from powder and its formulations, whereas GFS demonstrated closely similar release to MSG. Maximum 70% oil loaded MSG can be delivered in tablet dosage form andMSG can deliver the highest amount in limited volume capsules due to its high density. Hence, lower density and poor oil release from MAS limit its applications in solid oral drug delivery,while both MSG and GFS proved to be suitable.