{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,27]],"date-time":"2026-04-27T10:16:01Z","timestamp":1777284961116,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,10,14]],"date-time":"2019-10-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1571011200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100010198","name":"Ministerio de Econom\u00eda, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de Espa\u00f1a","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["FIS2016-77692-C2-2-P"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FIS2016-77692-C2-2-P"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100010198","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100010198","name":"Ministerio de Econom\u00eda, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de Espa\u00f1a","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["CGL2016-80833-R"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CGL2016-80833-R"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100010198","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002878","name":"Consejer\u00eda de Econom\u00eda, Innovaci\u00f3n, Ciencia y Empleo, Junta de Andaluc\u00eda","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["RNM1897"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RNM1897"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002878","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pharmaceutics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Calcium carbonate is an abundant mineral with several advantages to be a successful carrier to improve oral bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs, such as praziquantel. Praziquantel is an antiparasitic drug classified in group II of the Biopharmaceutical Classification System hence characterized by high-permeability and low-solubility. Therefore, the dissolution rate is the limiting factor for the gastrointestinal absorption that contributes to the low bioavailability. Consequently, the therapeutic dose of the praziquantel must be high and big tablets and capsules are required, which are difficult to swallow, especially for pediatric and elderly patients. Mixtures of praziquantel and calcium carbonate using solid-solid physical mixtures and solid dispersions were prepared and characterized using several techniques (X-ray diffraction differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, laser diffraction, Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectroscopies). Solubility of these formulations evidenced that the solubility of praziquantel-calcium carbonate interaction product increased in physiological media. In vitro dissolution tests showed that the interaction product increased the dissolution rate of the drug in acidic medium. Theoretical models were studied to understand this experimental behavior. Cytotoxicity and cell cycle studies were performed, showing that praziquantel-calcium carbonate physical mixture and interaction product were biocompatible with the HTC116 cells, because it did not produce a decrease in cell viability or alterations in the cell cycle.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pharmaceutics11100533","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,10,14]],"date-time":"2019-10-14T12:14:05Z","timestamp":1571055245000},"page":"533","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["Ground Calcium Carbonate as a Low Cost and Biosafety Excipient for Solubility and Dissolution Improvement of Praziquantel"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Ana","family":"Borrego-S\u00e1nchez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC-University of Granada), Av. de las Palmeras 4, 18100 Granada, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja s\/n, 18071 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rita","family":"S\u00e1nchez-Espejo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC-University of Granada), Av. de las Palmeras 4, 18100 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Beatrice","family":"Albertini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy and BioTechnology, University of Bologna, Via S. Donato 19\/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3470-2700","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nadia","family":"Passerini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy and BioTechnology, University of Bologna, Via S. Donato 19\/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Pilar","family":"Cerezo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja s\/n, 18071 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"C\u00e9sar","family":"Viseras","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC-University of Granada), Av. de las Palmeras 4, 18100 Granada, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja s\/n, 18071 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8612-3826","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"C. Ignacio","family":"Sainz-D\u00edaz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC-University of Granada), Av. de las Palmeras 4, 18100 Granada, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,10,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Rowe, R.C., Sheskey, P.J., and Weller, P.J. (2009). Calcium Carbonate. Handbook of Pharmaceutical Excipients, Pharmaceutical Press. [6th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jconrel.2004.11.015","article-title":"Drug-incorporating calcium carbonate nanoparticles for a new delivery system","volume":"103","author":"Ueno","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Control. 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