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Design of electrospayed non-spherical poly (l-lactide-co-glicolide) microdevices for sustained drug delivery

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Abstract

Polymer chain entanglements in organic solvents can be considered a key parameter in the formation of non-spherical beads when electrospraying is employed. The shape of micro/nanometric drug delivery systems plays a major role since it can affect circulation, extravasation, distribution and in vivo clearance of the devices. In this frame, we investigated the influence of polymer processing parameters on the design of polylactic-co-glycolic acid non-spherical microdevices loaded with triamcinolone acetonide (TrA), a sparingly water soluble corticosteroid, prepared by electrospraying technique through a one-step process. In particular, we verified that the formation of non-spherical MDs is related to the presence of entanglements among polymer chains to select the optimal solution to be sprayed. The addition of TrA did not substantially affect the particle morphology in terms of size, size distribution and circularity at all the tested drug loadings. Furthermore, the drug could be released for a prolonged period, with controlled and reproducible kinetics for over 3 weeks. The mathematical modeling of release profiles highlighted that the release is mainly driven by degradation, at a higher extent in the case of low drug loading.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the National Operative Programme REPAIR (PON01-02342). Scanning Electron Microscopy was supported by the Transmission and Scanning Electron Microscopy Labs (LAMEST) of the National Research Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università di Napoli Federico II, Via D. Montesano 49, Naples, Italy

    Laura Mayol, Carla Serri & Marco Biondi

  2. Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Biomaterials (CRIB), Università di Napoli Federico II, P.le Tecchio, 80, Naples, Italy

    Laura Mayol, Assunta Borzacchiello & Marco Biondi

  3. Istituto per i Materiali Compositi e Biomedici IMCB and DSCTM-CNR, P.le Tecchio, 80, Naples, Italy

    Assunta Borzacchiello, Vincenzo Guarino & Luigi Ambrosio

Authors
  1. Laura Mayol
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  2. Assunta Borzacchiello
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  3. Vincenzo Guarino
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  4. Carla Serri
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  5. Marco Biondi
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  6. Luigi Ambrosio
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marco Biondi.

Additional information

Laura Mayol, Assunta Borzacchiello, and Vincenzo Guarino have contributed equally to this study.

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Mayol, L., Borzacchiello, A., Guarino, V. et al. Design of electrospayed non-spherical poly (l-lactide-co-glicolide) microdevices for sustained drug delivery. J Mater Sci: Mater Med 25, 383–390 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-013-5080-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-013-5080-5

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