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Comparison of In Vitro Deposition of Pharmaceutical Aerosols in an Idealized Child Throat with In Vivo Deposition in the Upper Respiratory Tract of Children

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Abstract

Purpose

Deposition of drug emitted from two commercially available inhalers was measured in an in vitro child oral airway model and compared to existing in vivo data to examine the ability of the child model to replicate in vivo deposition.

Methods

In vitro deposition of drug from a QVAR® pressurized metered dose inhaler (pMDI) and Pulmicort® Turbuhaler® dry powder inhaler (DPI) in an Idealized Child Throat (1) and downstream filter was measured using UV spectroscopy and simulated realistic breathing profiles. Potential effects of ambient relative humidity ranging from 10% to 90% on deposition were also considered.

Results

In vitro QVAR pMDI deposition in the idealized mouth-throat at 50% RH (39.2 ± 2.3% of delivered dose) compared well (p > 0.05) with in vivo extrathoracic deposition in asthmatic children age 8 to 14 (45.8 ± 12.3%). In vitro Turbuhaler DPI deposition in the idealized mouth-throat at 50% RH (69.0 ± 1.5%) matched in vivo extrathoracic deposition (p > 0.05) in 6 to 16 year old children with cystic fibrosis (70.4 ± 21.2%). The effects of ambient humidity were found to be insignificant for Turbuhaler and minor for QVAR.

Conclusions

The Idealized Child Throat successfully mimics in vivo deposition data in school age children for the inhalers tested, and may provide a standard platform for optimizing pediatric treatment with inhaled pharmaceutical aerosols.

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Abbreviations

DPI:

Dry powder inhaler

MMAD:

Mass median aerodynamic diameter

pMDI:

Pressurized metered dose inhaler

RH:

Relative humidity

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Acknowledgments and Disclosures

CA Ruzycki gratefully acknowledges funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, The Lung Association Alberta & NWT, and Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures.

The laboratory assistance of Helena Orzanska in performing UV spectroscopy is greatly appreciated.

The assistance of the staff of the machine shop at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta in developing the metal version of the Idealized Child Throat is also acknowledged.

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Author notes

  1. Laleh Golshahi

    Present address: Department of Pharmaceutics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2G8

    Conor A. Ruzycki, Laleh Golshahi, Reinhard Vehring & Warren H. Finlay

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  1. Conor A. Ruzycki
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  2. Laleh Golshahi
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Correspondence to Warren H. Finlay.

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Ruzycki, C.A., Golshahi, L., Vehring, R. et al. Comparison of In Vitro Deposition of Pharmaceutical Aerosols in an Idealized Child Throat with In Vivo Deposition in the Upper Respiratory Tract of Children. Pharm Res 31, 1525–1535 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-013-1258-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-013-1258-2

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