Chemical stability of amphotericin B in lipid-based media

Abstract

This thesis is part of research efforts with the intent of applying chemical stability and drug degradation kinetics knowledge to lipid-based systems, as amphotericin B (AmB) usually requires a lipid-based nanotechnological delivery system to overcome its biopharmaceutical issues. The aim of this thesis was to determine the instability pathway and degradation kinetics of AmB in oil solutions, since stability of drug in delivery systems are chemically complex to be investigated due to their multi-phased aspect. This thesis was driven on the hypothesis that AmB´s toxicity might be associated to the drug degradation instead of what is reported by the literature, which is mainly related to the drug´s aggregation state. The experimental research herein was conducted in order to investigate the chemical instability pathways and kinetics of AmB in oils, aiming to generate knowledge that can be useful on a larger context involving microemulsions currently studied by our research group. For this purpose, reaction mixtures containing AmB were prepared using different solvents and cosolutes. Samples were stored under different conditions of temperature and light exposure. AmB aggregation state in the reaction mixtures was investigated by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The degradation pathway of AmB in oil was investigated. The results revealed that the use of hydrogen donator antioxidants decreased the degradation of AmB under thermal stress. Also, the AmB degradation under dark conditions was not linearly temperature dependent. Additionally, the use of radical initiator greatly increased the degradation of AmB in methanol. Based on the obtained results, adsorption and aggregation did not appear to play an important role in the AmB degradation in oil. Under dark conditions, the most likely pathway for AmB degradation in oil was autoxidation, whereas under light exposure, the most likely degradation pathway was light catalyzed oxidation. Empirical degradation schemes were drawn and differential equations were developed to explain the AmB loss process. A kinetic model was successfully used to describe the AmB loss in different solvents under dark environment. The model proved that AmB undergoes a complex degradation pathway, once a simple autocatalytic model could not describe its loss. In fact, a reversible loss probably related to hydrolysis might be involved, as demonstrated by the scheme and the kinetic model. A second model successfully described the AmB loss under light exposure. AmB loss in this condition showed to be of pseudo-first order. Due to the complex degradation pathway, the kinetics of the different processes leading to the AmB degradation could not be distinguished. The information generated by this research will help to predict AmB instability in microemulsion systems, once the data of AmB degradation in aqueous phase and surfactants will be associated. Additionally, further efforts on trying to generate and isolate the degradants here suggested can help on the investigation of the toxicity related to degradation products.