Comparison of efficacies of full and abbreviated cascade impactors in aerosol characterization of nebulized salbutamol sulfate produced by a jet nebulizer

The properties of aerosols generated from salbutamol sulfate solution (1 mg/mL) using an air-jet nebulizer were evaluated using Next Generation Impactor (NGI), a full cascade impactor, and Fast Screening Impactor (FSI), an abbreviated impactor measurement (AIM). Both impactors were operated under the same experimental conditions. The samples were recovered and assayed using validated high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The study investigated AIM-Human Respiratory Tract (HRT) concept by comparing key parameters of aerosolization i.e. fine particle dose (FPD) and fine particle fraction (FPF) measured using FSI, with NGI as baseline. The results showed that FSI yielded different but comparable values for FPD and FPF, indicating that it is alternative impactor to NGI. Despite the fact that FSI could not replace NGI, it may be used as an alternative impactor for simple and rapid aerosol characterization of formulations in some pharmaceutical development and quality control processes.