Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Assisted Impregnation of Molsidomine into Poly(dl-Lactide-co-glycolide) for Sustained Release Applications

摘要

Supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO_2) was used as a processing medium for the fabrication of drug encapsulated poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) monoliths for their potential application in the controlled release of water soluble drugs. Exposure of PLGA to scCO_2 leads to effective plasticization and liquefaction due to the high solubility and interaction of the scCO_2 in the copolymer. By exploiting this property, it was demonstrated that prolonged release formulations of molsidomine, a peripheral nitrovasodilator used to treat angina pectoris, can be prepared by chemical solvent-free, scCO_2 assisted drug impregnation method. The in-vitro dissolution studies revealed that the release rates of drug from the porous polymer monoliths containing different amount of the drug samples were significantly retarded due to encapsulation of molsidomine into the PLGA matrix.