Spinning Disk Aerosol Generators as a Low Energy Alternative to Medical Air-Jet Nebulizers: Theory and Experiment

ABSTRACT Inhalation delivery of medicinal agents offers significant therapeutic advantages, including direct administration to target tissues, rapid uptake and distribution, and avoidance of drug degradation and side effects associated with other routes of administration. Medical air-jet nebulizers are widely used in these applications, but recent advances in drug carrier systems development suggest that air-jet nebulization may not be the most appropriate technique for aerosolization of emerging energy-sensitive carriers such as liposome suspensions. In this work, net energy input to therapeutic aerosols and the resulting damage to drug carrier systems are examined from both theoretical and experimental approaches. From theory, equations describing net energy input are derived for air-jet nebulizer and spinning disk aerosol generator systems, and evaluated using design and operating values for two commercially available instruments, a Collison 3-jet nebulizer and an MkII Spinning Top Aerosol Generator (S...