Protein encapsulation in biodegradable amphiphilic microspheres. I. Polymer synthesis and characterization and microsphere elaboration

✍ Scribed by Philippe Bouillot; Alain Petit; Edith Dellacherie

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 189 KB
• Volume: 68
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4628(19980606)68:10<1695::aid-app19>3.0.co;2-w

✦ Synopsis

Polymerization of lactide on monomethoxypolyoxyethylene (MPOE), using stannous octoate as a catalyst, was carried out in bulk and in solvent. Polymerization in a solvent permits one to work at a lower temperature and thus to prevent transesterification reactions. The copolymers synthesized in solvent exhibited a lower polydispersity and a polylactic acid (PLA) block longer and closer to the expected one. Therefore, this procedure was used to synthesize a series of diblock copolymers MPOE-D,L-PLA, keeping the PLA chain constant (45,000 g/mol), the MPOE block increasing from 2000 to 5000, 10,000, 15,000, and 20,000 g/mol. The longer the MPOE chain, the higher the water uptake in the MPOE-PLA films and the lower the glass transition temperature of the copolymers. The synthesized copolymers were used to prepare microspheres by the double-emulsion method. The PLA microspheres possess a smooth surface, whereas those made from copolymers have a rough surface with irregularity increasing with the molecular weight of MPOE. The size of these microspheres depends on the amphiphilic nature of the copolymers, their hydrophilicity, and their intrinsic viscosity in the organic solvent.