Physical properties of antibiotic aerosols produced by jet and ultrasonic nebulizers

The drug stability and the physical properties of aerosol of five different antibiotics were compared for ultrasonic and jet-type nebulization. These antibiotics were used alone, as well as combined with betamethasone sodium phosphate and/or tyloxapol glycerol sodium bicarbonate. The parameters investigated were changes in appearance, pH, temperature, viscosity, specific gravity and the residual potency of the antibiotics. No significant change was shown in appearance, viscosity and specific gravity. Temperatures of the solutions in the ultrasonic nebulizer cup increased with time, though almost no change after 10 minutes in the jet nebulizer. For pH, with antibiotics alone in the ultrasonic nebulizer, some drugs showed an increase, and other drugs showed a decrease, while generally a little change in the jet nebulizer. For residual potency, one drug showed decreased potency in the aerosol, though it was increased in the remnant solution, in contrast, another drug showed a tendency to increased potency in the aerosol and decreased potency in the remnant solution in the ultrasonic nebulizer. In the jet nebulizer, drugs showed generally slight increased potency and no difference among drugs. It was suggested that, with ultrasonic nebulization, in some drugs the solvents were nebulized and the principal ingredient tended to remain behind, while in other drugs the opposite occurred so that the effects were not uniform.