[Formulation and stability of suspensions for preclinical study]. Formulazione e stabilità di sospensioni per studi preclinici.

In preclinical studies, poorly soluble drugs are usually administered orally to experimental animals as suspensions. The present study was aimed at providing data allowing predictive estimations of the stability of such suspensions. To this purpose aqueous suspensions of three drugs (griseofulvin, ibuprofen and indomethacin) were prepared at different concentrations using four different suspending agents: sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), microcrystalline cellulose/carboxymethylcellulose (MC/CMC), hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) and jota carragenaan (CJ). The physical and physico-chemical characteristics of the drugs, the rheological properties of the suspending media and of the corresponding drug suspensions, and the physical and chemical stability of the suspensions was then evaluated. The type of suspending agent, rather than the physical characteristics of the drug, appeared to exert the main influence on the physical stability of suspensions. The most stable formulations were produced by suspending agents with low-temperature gelation characteristics (CJ) or with thixotropic flux (MC/CMC).