Direct visualization of the drug release process of non-conductive polymeric implants via molecular imaging

Long-acting parenteral (LAP) implant has garnered the attraction as a drug delivery technique in recent years. Understanding the drug release process is critical for the study of underlying release mechanism. In this paper, we present a novel application of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry imaging (MADLI-MSI) for the direct visualization of the drug release process from non-conductive polymeric based LAP implants at molecular level. Custom-made sample holders were designed for LAP sample introduction in place of traditional conductive glass slides. The main technical obstacles of applying MALDI-MSI to study non-conductive materials are surface conductivity which can lead to charge build-up. In order to obtain homogeneous imaging of non-conductive sample surfaces, we developed a new sample surface treatment procedure, which is a critical control step to ensure the data reliability and accuracy in understanding kinetics of drug release process of LAP. Overall, this is the first comprehensive report of a sample preparation methodology tailored for imaging LAP at molecular level, allowing for the direct chemical identification and 2D mapping of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) distribution during LAP release process. Furthermore, this work has established the foundation to apply MALDI-MSI to the understanding of LAP implant formulation homogeneity, chemical composition, and degradation. More importantly, this work enabled the extension of MALDI-MSI technique to study a wide range of non-conductive materials.