Page 414 - IJB-10-5

International

Journal of Bioprinting

RESEARCH ARTICLE
The effect of manufacturing method; direct

compression, hot-melt extrusion, and 3D
printing on polymer stability and drug release

from polyethylene oxide tablets

Nour Nashed 1 id , Barnaby W. Greenland 1 id , Mridul Majumder , Matthew Lam 1,3 id ,
2
Taravat Ghafourian 4 id , and Ali Nokhodchi *
1,5 id
1 Arundel Building, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
2 M2M Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Reading, United Kingdom
3 Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Human Sciences, London
Metropolitan University, London, United Kingdom
4 Barry and Judy Silverman College of Pharmacy, Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale,
Florida, United States of America
5 Lupin Research Inc., Coral Spring, Florida, United States of America

Abstract

Thermal 3D printing has gained substantial attention in pharmaceutical formulation,
especially concerning its potential use in personalized dose delivery. The choice of
a printable polymer is crucial in this technique, but it is restricted due to technical
*Corresponding author:
Ali Nokhodchi issues such as thermal stability and thermal-rheological properties of the polymers.
(a.nokhodchi@sussex.ac.uk) Polyethylene oxide (PEO) is a widely used polymer in drug formulation designs,
Citation: Nashed N, Greenland BW, with potential application in 3D printing due to its favorable rheological properties.
Majumder M, Lam M, Ghafourian However, the thermal stability of PEOs exposed to high temperatures during fused
T, Nokhodchi A. The effect of deposition modeling (FDM) needs to be characterized. This research focused on the
manufacturing method; direct
compression, hot-melt extrusion, characterization of two molecular weights (M ) of PEO (7 and 0.9 M) under various
w
and 3D printing on polymer manufacturing methods and formulation compositions. PEO was mixed with other
stability and drug release from low-viscosity polymers of hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) or ethyl cellulose (EC) to
polyethylene oxide tablets.
Int J Bioprint. 2024;10(5):4055. achieve printable formulations (PEO/HPC or PEO/EC). Tablets were manufactured by
doi: 10.36922/ijb.4055 direct compression, compression of hot-melt extrudates (HME) at 150°, or by FDM
3D-printing at 220°. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray powder diffraction
Received: June 27, 2024
Revised: July 31, 2024 (XRPD), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), dissolution tests, and their kinetics
Accepted: August 2, 2024 studies were carried out. Results demonstrated that thermal processes could reduce the
Published Online: August 5, 2024 crystallinity of PEO and induce M reduction that varies depending on the M of PEO.
w
w
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). As a result, dissolution efficiency (DE%) varied based on the formulation composition
This is an Open Access article and manufacturing method. For formulations containing PEO and HPC, 3D-printed and
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution HME tablets exhibited higher DE (>60%) compared to directly compressed tablets (DE
License, permitting distribution, < 50%), while for those with PEO and EC, 3D printing reduced DE% to <26% compared
and reproduction in any medium, to direct compression (~30%) and HME tablets (~50%). This was attributed to the
provided the original work is
properly cited. hydrophobic nature of EC and the increased hardness of the printed tablets, preventing
tablet disintegration during dissolution, which outweighs the M reduction in PEO.
Publisher’s Note: AccScience w
Publishing remains neutral with
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional Keywords: Manufacturing method; Hot-melt extrusion; Polyethylene oxide;
affiliations. 3D printing; Molecular weight; Thermal stability

Volume 10 Issue 5 (2024) 406 doi: 10.36922/ijb.4055