Conventional immediate release dosage forms involve compressing the powder with a disintegrating agent that enables rapid disintegration and dissolution upon oral ingestion. Among 3D printing technologies, the fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printing technique has a considerable potential for patient-specific dosage forms. However, the use of FDM 3D printing in tablet manufacturing requires a large portion of polymer, which slows down drug release through erosion and diffusion mechanisms. In this study, we demonstrate for the first time the use of a novel design approach of caplets with perforated channels to accelerate drug release from 3D printed tablets. This strategy has been implemented using a caplet design with perforating channels of increasing width (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 or 1.0 mm) and variable length, and alignment (parallel or at right angle to tablet long axis). Hydrochlorothiazide (BCS class IV drug) was chosen as the model drug as enhanced dissolution rate is vital to guarantee oral bioavailability. The inclusion of channels exhibited an increase in the surface area/volume ratio, however, the release pattern was also influenced by the width and the length of the channel. A channel width was ≥ 0.6 mm deemed critical to meet the USP criteria of immediate release products. Shorter multiple channels (8.6 mm) were more efficient at accelerating drug release than longer channels (18.2 mm) despite having comparable surface area/mass ratio. This behaviour may be linked to the reduced flow resistance within the channels and the faster fragmentation during dissolution of these tablets. In conclusion, the width and length of the channel should be carefully considered in addition to surface area/mass when optimizing drug release from 3D printed designs. The incorporation of short channels can be adopted in the designs of dosage forms, implants or stents to enhance the release rate of eluting drug from polymer-rich structures.

常规的速释剂型包括用崩解剂压制粉末，该崩解剂在口服时能够迅速崩解和溶解。在3D打印技术中，熔融沉积建模（FDM）3D打印技术对于患者特定的剂型具有相当大的潜力。但是，在平板电脑制造中使用FDM 3D打印需要大量的聚合物，这会减缓通过腐蚀和扩散机制释放的药物。在这项研究中，我们首次展示了一种新颖的带有穿孔通道的囊片设计方法，可加快药物从3D打印片中的释放。这项策略是使用瓶盖设计来实现的，该瓶盖设计的穿孔通道的宽度（宽度分别为0.2、0.4、0.6、0.8或1.0 mm）和长度不断增加，并对齐（与数位板长轴平行或成直角）。选择氢氯噻嗪（BCS IV类药物）作为模型药物，因为增加的溶出度对于保证口服生物利用度至关重要。通道的夹杂物表现出表面积/体积比的增加，但是，释放模式也受到通道的宽度和长度的影响。通道宽度≥0.6 mm被认为对满足即释产品的USP标准至关重要。尽管具有可比的表面积/质量比，但较短的多个通道（8.6毫米）比较长的通道（18.2毫米）在加速药物释放方面更有效。这种行为可能与通道内流动阻力的降低以及这些片剂溶解过程中更快的破碎有关。综上所述，优化3D打印设计中的药物释放时，除了表面积/质量外，还应仔细考虑通道的宽度和长度。短通道的结合可用于剂型，植入物或支架的设计中，以提高洗脱药物从富含聚合物的结构中的释放速率。