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The design space of the granulation process of mefenamic acid tablets, based on Box and Behnken design datasets, was described by a response surface method incorporating multivariate spline interpolation. The reliability of the optimal solutions and the acceptance ranges were evaluated by a bootstrap (BS) resampling technique. The distribution of the BS optimal solutions was almost symmetrical; however, several solutions, which were quite different from the original solution, were mixed. The reason for this problem was considered to be the mixing of the global and the local optima. Therefore, we applied self-organizing map (SOM) clustering for dividing data into several clusters and identified the cluster containing the global optima. The accuracy and reproducibility of the optimal solution in the cluster containing the optimal solution were quantitatively evaluated. In addition, the response surfaces modeled from all the BS datasets contained in the cluster were plotted into the same coordinates with the original response surface. The plots of BS optimal solutions were distributed around the original solution. Moreover, the average of all the BS response surfaces sufficiently corresponded with the original response surface. The conservative limits of the 95% confidence intervals of the acceptance ranges in three response variables could be calculated using the standard deviations of the BS response surfaces. Consequently, it was considered that a novel evaluation method based on BS resampling and SOM could be used for quantitatively evaluating the precision of the nonlinear response surface model.

The surface of amorphous compounds crystallizes faster compared to the bulk. This suggests that molecules at the surface have high molecular mobility. Crystallization behavior is affected by various factors including molecular weight and glass transition temperature (T(g)). In this study, we focus on troglitazone which is composed of diastereomers, RR/SS and RS/SR, as model compound, because each diastereomer has the same molecular weight and similar chemical structure. Troglitazone is isolated into each diastereomer, and both amorphous prepared from RR/SS and RS/SR showed similar T(g) (around 60°C). The surface relaxation of each amorphous troglitazone prepared from two diastereomers, RR/SS and RS/SR, was determined to compare surface molecular mobility, using inverse gas chromatography under dry conditions. As a result, amorphous prepared from RS/SR, showed the shorter surface relaxation time at 40°C (temperature below T(g)), which means it has higher molecular mobility than that from RR/SS at the surface although both have the same molecular weight and similar T(g). Microscopy analysis was conducted to observe the crstallization behavior at the surface of amorphous troglitazone in conditions of high temperature and humidity. Micrographs showed that crystallization area at the surface of amorphous prepared from RS/SR, which showed the shorter surface relaxation time, increased faster than that of the amorphous prepared from RR/SS. Although the reason for the difference in the surface relaxation time of each amorphous troglitazone could not be determined, factors such as the difference of configuration might affect the difference.

After the dosing of an extended-release (ER) formulation, compounds may exist in solutions at various concentrations in the colon because the drugs are released at various speeds from the ER dosage form. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the drug concentration profiles in plasma and the drug doses in the colon. Several drug solutions of different concentrations were directly administered into the ascending colon of dogs using a lubricated endoscope, and the effects of the drug dose on colonic absorption were estimated. As a result, dose-dependency of colonic absorption varied from compound to compound. Although the relative bioavailability of colonic administration of diclofenac, metformin and cevimeline compared to oral administration was similar regardless of the drug doses in the colon, colonic absorption of diltiazem varied according to the doses. From the results of the co-administration of verapamil and fexofenadine, it was clear that diltiazem underwent extensive hepatic and gastrointestinal first-pass metabolism, resulting in a low area under the curves (AUC) at a low drug dose. During the design of oral ER delivery systems, a colonic absorption study of candidate compounds should be carried out at several solutions of different drug concentrations and assessed carefully.