PLGA and PLLA nanoparticles encapsulating microparticles provide sequential release of three NSAID drugs

• Main Author: Yeo, Ryan Eng Wan
• Other Authors: Loo Say Chye Joachim
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials::Biomaterials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66787
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Drug delivery systems (DDSs) are versatile vessels, capable of carrying dyes, proteins, drugs and chemicals and delivering them at targeted sites, improving patient compliance, drug stability and potency, while reducing physiological fatigue from frequent high doses, infection, as well as the delivery of one or more potentially incompatible drug in a single dose. Micro and nanoparticles prepared using aliphatic polyesters such as poly (L-lactide), poly (Llactide- co-glycolide), and polycaprolactone present the gift of manufacturing DDSs which are smaller, less invasive to the patient, and more target specific, while keeping intended doses at therapeutic levels. There have been limited studies with respect to the use of particulate DDSs, let alone encapsulation of nanoparticles within a microcapsule. A study was carried out to develop and fabricate a DDS comprising of dye- and drug-loaded nanoparticles in microcapsules using aliphatic polyesters. This was done using a double emulsion solvent evaporation method, before proceeding to explore the release of three model non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in a controlled, sustained fashion by polymeric hydrolytic degradation, and diffusion of drugs from the DDS within a simulated in-vitro environment of phosphate buffer solution at the physiological pH of 7.4. The proposed DDS was found to successfully encapsulate nanoparticles within microcapsules through qualitative imaging methods of confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and portrayed sequential release profiles as particulate DDSs consisting of microcapsule encapsulation. This study has unlocked a vast potential of exploring many possible formulations of drugs over 15 days in simulated in-vitro physiological conditions at pH7.4.