- Author(s):
- Organization(s):
Virginia Commonwealth University
Successful preclinical studies depend on accurate and reproducible delivery of dry powder aerosol formulations to animal models. A variety of devices are available for this purpose, however, delivery to small animal models remains challenging. Although recent innovations have attempted to overcome technical issues, significant gaps still exist in standardization, scalability and regulatory harmonization.
This article highlights various animal-specific dry powder insufflator (DPI) delivery devices including the historically significant, discontinued Penn-Century™ DP-4 dry powder insufflator as well as novel, customized devices developed for rat, rabbit, pre-term lamb and mouse models. It discusses mechanisms and advantages and limitations of these devices. It also explores key considerations for device design and selection, with attention to clinical/translational relevancy and regulatory requirements. The article concludes by discussing future directions to pursue to minimize gaps between benchtop formulation and preclinical trials to successfully develop a dry powder inhaler product.
June 2026, Volume 20(3), pages 27-35