In this study, glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) liposomes were successfully prepared using lyophilization monophase solution method. Preformulation studies comprised evaluation of solubility of soybean phosphatidylcholine (SPC), cholesterol, and GA in tert-butyl alcohol (TBA)/water co-solvent. The influences of TBA volume percentage on sublimation rate were investigated. GA after lyophilization using TBA/water co-solvent with different volume percentage was physicochemically characterized by DSC, XRD, and FTIR. The XRD patterns of GA show apparent amorphous nature. FTIR spectroscopy results show that no chemical structural changes occurred. Solubility studies show aqueous solubility of GA is enhanced. The optimum formulation and processing variables of 508 mg SPC, 151 mg cholesterol, 55% volume percentage of TBA, 4:1 trehalose/SPC weight ratio were obtained after investigating by means of Box-Benhnken design and selection experiment of lyoprotectant. Under the optimum conditions, satisfactory encapsulation efficiency (74.87%) and mean diameter (191 nm) of reconstituted liposomes were obtained. In vitro drug release study showed that reconstituted liposomes have sustained-release properties in two kinds of release medium. Furthermore, in vitro cell uptake study revealed that uptake process of drug-loaded liposomes by Hep G2 cells is time-dependent.

Mesoporous carriers have been extensively applied to improve the dissolution velocity and bioavailability of insoluble drugs. The goal of this work was to compare the drug-loading efficiency (LE) and drug-dissolution properties of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) and mesoporous carbon nanoparticles (MCN) as drug vectors oral delivery of water-insoluble drugs. For this purpose, MSN and MCN with similar particle size, surface area, and mesoporous diameter were prepared to precisely evaluate the effects of different textures on the drug-loading and dissolution behavior of insoluble drugs. Carvedilol (CAR), a Bio-pharmaceutic Classification System (BCS) class II drug, was loaded in the MSN and MCN by the solvent adsorption method and solvent evaporation method with different carrier–drug ratios. The carboxylated MCN (MCN–COOH) had a higher LE for CAR than MSN for both the two loading methods due to the strong adsorption effect and π–π stacking force with CAR. In vitro drug dissolution study showed that both MSN and MCN-COOH could improve the dissolution rate of CAR compared with the micronized CAR. In comparison to MSN, MCN-COOH displayed a slightly slower dissolution profile, which may be ascribed to the strong interaction between MCN-COOH and CAR. Observation of cell cytotoxicity and gastrointestinal mucosa irritation demonstrated the good biocompatibility of both MSN and MCN–COOH. The present study encourages further research of different carriers to determine their potential application in oral administration.

Anisotropic local structure has been observed around both the Fe and Ba ions in the amorphous precursor to Ba-hexaferrite thin films, using polarization-dependent extended x-ray-absorption fine structure. This anisotropic local structure, consisting mainly of a network of Fe-O octahedra, determines the orientation of the fast-growing basal planes during crystallization, and thus the directions of the c axes and the resulting magnetic anisotropy.

The effect of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as glycyrrhetic acid (GA) solid dispersions carrier at different molecular weights on the dissolution behavior and physicochemical properties was investigated. PVP-GA-SDs prepared with all four molecular weight PVPs displayed good enhancement of dissolution rate and equilibrium solubility compared with pure drug and corresponding physical mixtures. The results showed that the enhancement effect of molecular weight on dissolution rate and equilibrium solubility follows . In addition, the dissolution rate and solubility of the SDs with a carrier-drug ratio of 8 : 1 were better than the samples of 4 : 1. The DSC and XRD patterns showed that the crystallization of GA in SDs prepared by PVP K30 and PVP K60 was significantly inhibited, and both were transformed to amorphous. Based on FTIR and Raman detection, a hydrogen-bond between PVP and drug molecules is formed. SEM results showed that there were no significant differences in the appearance of SDs prepared with four PVPs, and no crystalline morphology of GA was seen. In conclusion, the findings of this study demonstrated that the dissolution performance of the PVP-GA-SDs prepared by the solvent method is related to the molecular weight of PVP, and the change in the molecular weight of PVP does not cause a monotonic change in dissolution of GA. The samples with PVP K30 as the carrier have the best dissolution performance.