• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.670-679
• /
• 2002

1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU, carmustine) is one of the effective chemotherapeutic agents which has been used clinically for treating malignant glioma. Poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA, molecular weight: 20000 g/mole. mole ratio of lactide to glycolide 75 : 15) is a well known biodegradable polymer used as a drug carrier for drug delivery system. In this study, we investigated the BCNU release behaviour of BCNU-loaded PLGA wafers containing poly (N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) or polyethyleneoxide (PEO) and the effect of hydrophilic polymers incoporated in the wafers. BCNU-loaded PLGA microparticles with or without hydrophilic polymers were prepared by a spray drying method and fabricated into wafers by direct compression. Encapsulation efficiency of BCNU-loaded PLGA microparticles containing PVP and PEO was 85 ∼ 97% and crystallinity of BCNU encapsulated in PLGA decreased significantly initial release amount and release rate of BCNU increased with the increasing PVP or PEO amount. Morphological change and mass loss of wafers during the release test were confirmed that hydration and degradation of PLGA would be facilitated with an increase of hydrophilic polymers.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.128-138
• /
• 2002

1,3-Bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU, Carmustine)-loaded poly(D, L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA, lactide/glycolide mole ratio 75 : 25) microparticles were prepared and fabricated into wafers in an attempt to study the possibility for the treatment of malignant glioma by direct inserting the wafers to the tumor or the cavity remained after surgical resection of the tumor. SEM observation of the microparticles prepared by spray drying method revealed that the microparticles were spherical, i. e. microspheres. Significant reduction of the crystallinity of BCNU encapsulated in PLGA was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry analyses of the BCNU-loaded PLGA microparticles. Release pattern of BCNU was dependent on several preparation parameters, such as the molecular weight and concentration of PLGA, and initial BCNU loading amount, etc. In vitro release of BCNU was prolonged over 8 weeks with close to zero-order release pattern after initial burst effect. Observations of morphological change of wafers and pH change of release media during release test period confirmed that hydration and degradation of PLGA would be facilitated with an increase of BCNU-loading amount.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.691-700
• /
• 2002

Interstitial therapy using biodegradable polymeric device loaded with anticancer agent can deliver the drug to the tumor site at high concentration, resulting in an increase of therapeutic efficacy. 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU, carmustine) is most commonly used as chemotherapeutic agent for brain tumors. The design of implantable device is regarded as an important factor lot the efficient delivery of antitumor agent to targeting site. In order to control the release profile of drug, the release pattern of BCNU with the changes of various dimension and additives was investigated. The PLGA wafers containing 3.85, 10, 20 and 30% of BCNU were prepared in various shape (diameter of 3, 5 and 10 mm, thickness of 0.5, 1 and 2 mm) by direct compression method. In vitro drug release profile of BCNU-loaded PLGA wafers could be controlled by changing the dimension of wafers such as initial drug content, weight, diameter, thickness, volume and surface area of wafers, as well as PLGA molecular weight and additives. Drug release from BCNU-loaded PLGA wafers was facilitated with an increase of BCNU-loading amount or presence of poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone)(PVP) or sodium chloride (NaCl). The effects of various geometric factors and additives on the BCNU release pattern were confirmed by the investigation of mass loss and morphology of BCNU-loaded PLGA wafers.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.680-690
• /
• 2002

Implantable biodegradable wafers were prepared with pamidronate -loaded poly (L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA, 75 : 25 mole ratio by lactide to glycolide, molecular weight : 20000 and 90000 g/mole) by direct compression method for the sustained release of pamidronate to investigate the possibility for the treatment of bone resorption. Pamidronate-loaded PLGA powders were prepared by means of physical mixing and spray drying with the control of formulation factors and characterized by scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffractometer. The pamidronate-loaded PLGA powders fabricated into wafers by direct compression under the constant pressure and time at room temperature. These wafers were also observed for their structural characteristic, release pattern, and degradation pattern. The release rate of pamidronate increased with increasing their initial loading ratio as well as increasing wafer thickness. The molecular weight of PLGA affects the release pattern : the higher molecular weight of PLGA, the faster release rate. It can be explained that the higher viscosity of high molecular PLGA solution at same concentration tends to aggregate PLGA and pamidronate resulting in unstable pharmaceutical dosage form. This system had advantages in terms of simplicity in design and obviousness of drug release rate and nay be useful as an implantable dosage form for the treatment of aural cholesteatoma.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.335-343
• /
• 2004

Carmustine (l,3-bis(2-chloroethyI)-1-nitrosourea, BICNU) used as antineoplastic drug for the treatment of brain tumor is not appropriate for the long term delivery, because it has short biological half life. Therefore, poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) is useful as drug carrier for the long term delivery due to bulk erosion property. Glycolide monomer is applied to release of BICNU owing to non-toxic and monomeric components after biodegradation of PLGA. In this study, BICNU-loaded PLGA wafers with or without glycolide monomer were fabricated by conventional direct compression method for the sustained release of BICNU. These wafers were observed for their release profiles of BICNU and degradation rates by SEM, NMR, and GPC. Furthermore, we make multi-layer wafers and compare them with release profiles of conventional wafer. From these results, drug release of BICNU-loaded PLGA wafers was increased with increasing the glycolid monomer contents. We confirmed that glycolide monomer and BICNU contents in barrier-layer influenced the drug release profiles and degradation rate.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.217-225
• /
• 2003

We fabricated the 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU, carmustine)-loaded PLGA wafers containing poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) or tedium chloride (NaCl) in order to control the release profile of drug in special shape (3 in diameter, 1 mm in thickness) by direct compression method. In vitro release profiles of BCNU could be controlled by additives contained in the wafers. Initial release amount, release rate and duration of BCNU could be controlled with presence of PVP or NaCl. In vitro antitumor activity accessed using 9L gliosarcoma cell line has been evaluated by assaying the viability of cells treated with BCNU released from the wafers containing additives resulting in continuous growth inhibition of 9L gliosarcoma tumor cells. Specially, the continuous growth inhibition of BCNU-loaded PLGA wafers containing additives was more effective than that of non-additive BCNU-loaded PLGA wafers. The cytotoxic effect of the drug from the wafers containing NaCl as compared to wafers containing PVP was more enhanced.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.468-474
• /
• 2005

PLGA and PCL copolymers initiated by carbitol as drug carriers were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization of L-lactide (LA), glycolide (GA), and $\varepsilon-caprolactone(\varepsilon-CL)$. Implantable wafers were simply fabricated by direct compression method after physical mixing of copolymers and bovine serum albumin-fluorescein isothiocyanate (BSA-FITC) as a model protein drug. The release amounts of BSA-FITC from wafers were determined by fluorescence intensity using the fluorescence spectrophotometer. Also, the release behavior of BSA-FITC on wafers was controlled by adding the additives such as collagen, small intestinal submucosa (SIS), poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP), and poly(thylene glycol) (PEG). The wafer prepared by PLGA and PCL exhibited slow release within $10\%$ for 30 days. But, those prepared by a variety of additives exhibited the controlled BSA release patterns with a dependence on the additive contents. furthermore, the wafers containing natural materials such as collagen and SIS showed more zero-order release profile than that with synthetic materials such as PVP and PEG. It was confirmed that the release of BSA from implantable wafers could be easily controlled by adding natural additives.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.884-892
• /
• 2001

Biodegradable wafers were prepared with poly (L-lactide-co-glycolide) (50 : 50 mole ratio of lactide to glycolide, molecular weight:5000 g/mole) by direct compression method for the sustained release of nifedipine to investigate the possibility of the treatment of hypertension. PLGA wafers were prepared by altering initial drug/polymer loading ratio, wafer thickness, and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) content. These wafers showed new zero-order release patterns for 11 days, and various biphasic release patterns could be obtained by altering the composition of wafers such as addition of matrix binder as HPMC to the PLGA wafer to reduce release rate of initial phase. The onset of polymer mass loss only occured after 4 days and about 40% of mass loss was observed after 11 days nifedipine release. This system had advantages in terms of simplicity in design and obviousness of drug release rate and may be useful as an implantable dosage form.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.447-453
• /
• 2007

In this study, we fabricated recrystallized PLGA (rPLGA) particles using the vacuum drying method. In order to investigate an applicability of the rPLGA particles for controlled release system of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) loaded PLGA wafer, we prepared three different wafers using; 1) untreated PLGA (uPLGA), 2) rPLGA, and 3) uPLGA and rPLGA (4 : 1, 1 : 1 or 1 : 4). The rPLGA particles were characterized using NMR, IR and GPC to compare with uPLGA particles. The surface and cross section morphology of the prepared wafers were observed by the scanning electron microscope. The release profile of the 5-FU loaded wafer was measured by HPLC. The 5-FU/rPLGA wafer released the incorporated 5-FU in a sustained manner with low initial burst compared to 5-FU/uPLGA. These results showed that the ratio of pure PLGA/recrystallized PLGA can affect the release behaviors.

• Macromolecular Research
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.183-188
• /
• 2003

The controlled delivery of anticancer agents using biodegradable polymeric implant has been developed to solve the problem of penetration of blood brain barrier and severe systemic toxicity. This study was performed to prepare 5-FU-loaded poly (L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) wafer fabricated microparticles prepared by two different method and to evaluate their release profile for the application of the treatment of brain tumor. 5-FU-loaded PLGA microparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). SEM observation of the 5-FU-loaded PLGA microparticles prepared by rotary solvent evaporation method showed that 5-FU was almost surrounded by PLGA and significant reduction of crystallinity of 5-FU was confirmed by XRD. In case of release profile of 5-FU from 5-FU-loaded PLGA wafer fabricated microparticles prepared by mechanical mixing, the release profile of 5-FU followed near first order release kinetics. In contrast to the above result, release profile of 5-FU from 5-FU-loaded PLGA wafer fabricated microparticles prepared by rotary solvent evaporation method followed near zero order release kinetics. These results indicate that preparation method of the 5-FU-loaded PLGA microparticles to fabricate into wafers was contributed to drug release profile.