**Numerical Simulation and Experimental Testing to Improve Olfactory Drug Delivery with Electric Field Guidance of Charged Particles Numerical Simulation and Experimental Testing to Improve Olfactory Drug Delivery with Electric Field Guidance of Charged Particles**

Jinxiang Xi and Xiuhua April Si Jinxiang Xi and Xiuhua April Si

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/ 10.5772/65858

## **Abstract**

Even though the direct nose-to-brain drug delivery has many clinical benefits, there are limited successes in delivering medication aerosols to the olfactory mucosa with standard inhalation devices. In this study, different delivery techniques were assessed in terms of their capacities to deliver drug aerosols to the olfactory epithelium. Specifically, the feasibility of electric field guidance of charged aerosols to the olfactory mucosa was evaluated in an image-based nose model both numerically and experimentally. Multi-sectional nasal cast replicas were fabricated using a 3-D printer to measure the olfactory deposition rates and visualize the deposition distributions. An intranasal deposition test platform was developed that comprised an electric field guidance system, a dry powder charging device, and a point-release nozzle. Numerical simulations were conducted using both ANSYS Fluent and COMSOL. We demonstrated that it is feasible to control charged particles inside the human nose use an external electric field. Both the point-release technique and electric field guidance of drug particles are essential in attaining optimal olfactory doses. Consistent deposition patterns were achieved between in vitro experiments and computational simulations. Future investigations are warrnated for further improvements of olfactory delivery through refining the particle generation, charging, and releasing, and navigation systems.

**Keywords:** intranasal drug delivery, olfactory region, particle point release, electric field guidance, charged particles, nose-to-brain drug delivery

Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
