Comparison between air-jet and vibrating-mesh nebulizers in the delivery of nebulized salbutamol sulfate determined using an abbreviated impactor

Purpose: To investigate the aerodynamic properties of nebulized droplets from nebulizers for delivery of salbutamol sulfate. Methods: Drug deposits were collected from fast screening impactor (FSI). Parameters of aerosolization such as dryness time and salbutamol sulfate characteristics were determined using chilled FSI at a flow velocity of 15 L/min, with salbutamol sulfate solution nebulized to dryness. An optimized HPLC procedure was used to analyze the deposited salbutamol sulfate across the FSI. Parameters comprising mass balance, FPD and FPF were determined. Results: Statistical analysis showed that the performance of vibrating-mesh was more efficient than that of air-jet device, as depicted in significantly higher values FPF of aerosolized droplets (60 and 40 %, respectively; p < 0.05). Conclusion: The performance of aerosol generation using vibrating-mesh was more superior to that of air-jet nebulizer. However, there is need for further investigations on various physicochemical properties of nebulizer fluid as well as improvement in percentage FPF