The evolution of image processing-powered hot-stage microscopy in pharmaceutical characterization

Abstract

Hot-stage microscopy is essential for pharmaceutical characterization, revealing compounds' physical and chemical properties. It helps understand drug stability, purity, and formulation efficacy by observing melting points, polymorphic transformations, and crystallization events in real time in controlled heating samples. To analyze and interpret images, hot-stage microscopy relies on image processing. The process includes enhancement, filtering, segmentation, quantitative analysis, feature extraction, temperature mapping, real-time monitoring, image registration and alignment, and data visualization. As it evolves, hot-stage microscopy can improve drug development and patient outcomes. Hot-stage microscopy has revolutionized pharmaceutical characterization by directly observing the physical and chemical changes of drug substances during heating. This method illuminates melting points, phase transitions, polymorphism, and crystallinity, which affect drug stability, bioavailability, and efficacy. Future studies should explore more applications beyond crystalline phase analysis, amorphous phases, polymorphism, drug-excipient compatibility, and methodology optimization. Combining hot-stage microscopy with other analytical methods could lead to a more holistic approach to pharmaceutical characterization. The development of hot-stage microscopy presents promising opportunities for research and innovation in pharmaceutical science.