Cell Culture

MedPharm have developed various cell culture models to study the delivery and absorption of drugs in the skin, nose and lung.

Expertise provided by the Cell Culture Unit

The Cell Culture Unit offers a variety of services tailored to our clients needs including the use of Caco-2 and other cell lines. Cell culture drug absorption models can mimic epithelial absorption barriers and provide many advantages over conventional in vitro and in vivo models and are useful for determining drug permeability, mechanisms of drug absorption and assessing mucosal toxicity.

Caco-2 drug absorption model

The principal applications of Caco-2 cell monolayers, the foremost model of intestinal drug absorption, are to study transepithelial drug absorption, assess absorption enhancement strategies and give an indication of oral bioavailability. The widespread use of the Caco-2 cell culture model to generate data during drug discovery and development programmes has led the United States Pharmacopoeia Division of Standards Development to attempt to introduce standard methods for drug transport experiments utilising Caco-2 cells.

Other drug absorption models

Models of pulmonary drug transport based on airway or alveolar epithelials cells, are also available. Medpharm is developing a new range of additional models which incorporate the mucus barrier to drug absorption.

Modulation of airway epithelial permeability is of great interest with respect to the delivery of poorly absorbed drugs to the systemic circulation. A cell culture model of the airway epithelium has been established and the effect of so-called inert additives which are delivered to the airway can be investigated.

Services provided by the cell culture unit include:

Drug absorption screening in vitro permeability models

• Rank order of permeability of compounds
• Quantitative assessment of drug transport
• Effect of excipients / formulation on drug permeability

Drug transport mechanisms

• Assessment of passive transport
• Cellular mechanisms of drug absorption
• P-glycoprotein substrate screening

Cytotoxicity studies

• Assays to determine cell membrane damage
• Assays to determine impairment of cell metabolism
• Techniques to examine tight junction integrity

Study design

• Customised experimental design to suit client needs
• Assistance with the interpretation of data from drug absorption studies

Transmission electron micrograph of SPOC1 cells in monolayer culture on a Transwell support.
MG = mucus granule,
Exo = exocytosis,
MV = microvilli,
TJ = tight junction.