Knowing exactly what happens to these drugs as they enter the human body could lead to the development of new asthma treatments that can be taken up more quickly by the body.
- Markus Kalberer
A team of researchers, led by the Universities of Cambridge and Birmingham, have used a laser beam trap to examine how drug particles from asthma inhalers behave as they are projected through the air. Their findings could improve the effectiveness of inhalers for the over 5 million people in the UK suffering from asthma.
Over 73 million inhalers are used every year in the UK. By studying how the expelled drug particles might behave as they enter the human respiratory tract and travel into the lungs, this new research could lead to an improvement in the formulation of these drug delivery systems, increasing their effectiveness whilst reducing negative side effects.
Using the Octopus laser imaging facility at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Central Laser Facility, the scientists trapped individual solid particles of the drug salbutamol sulphate. They suspended them in air to test how they behave in conditions modelled to simulate those in the human respiratory system.
This is the first time that tests on these microscopic particles have been carried out in an environment that mimics their journey from inhaler to lung. The research is published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal, Chemical Communications.
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Image: Inhaler 1
Credit: Stuart B via flickr
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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