Dissolution and Supersaturation Episodes of Nimodipine in the Aqueous Solutions of theCyclodextrins a-CD, HP-a-CD, M-b-CD, and HP-g-CD

Overview

The dissolution curves of the substance of the calcium antagonist nimodipine in aqueous solutionsof four cyclodextrins were determined at ambient temperature in the course of 14 days. The usedcyclodextrins were a-cyclodextrin (a-CD), hydroxypropyl-a-cyclodextrin (HP-a-CD), methyl-b-cy-clodextrin (M-b-CD, random-methylated), and hydroxypropyl-g-cyclodextrin (HP-g-CD) and theirrespective concentrations were always 0.05 mol/l. According to the measured dissolution curves,M-b-CD in aqueous medium was a highly efficient solubiliser, capable to dissolve otherwisesparingly soluble nimodipine into a time-stable aqueous solution, with the saturated concentrationof nimodipine 5.15x10 -4 mol/l (21.5 mg/100 ml) under the given conditions. M- b-CD thus appearedto be a more efficient solubiliser than the previously studied HP-b-CD. The solubilising power ofHP-a-CD and HP-g-CD was much lower and a-CD practically did not improve long-term solubilityof nimodipine in water. However, in the presence of a-CD, HP-a-CD, and HP-g-CD, respectively,repeated shortterm episodes of formation of supersaturated solutions of nimodipine were observedon the dissolution curves, characterised by peaks of nimodipine concentration. Similar supersatu-ration episodes were previously observed in the presence of HP-b-CD. Since the supersaturationcaused by cyclodextrins reportedly substantially improved the biological availability of some drugs,the above-mentioned cyclodextrins, and especially natural a-CD, could be useful for the enhance-ment of the low availability of nimodipine from solid oral drug preparations.

Key words:
nimodipine – calcium antagonist – cyclodextrins – solubilisation – supersaturatedsolutions