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Biodegradable Heparin‐Loaded Microspheres: Carrier Molecular Composition and Microsphere Structure
Author(s) -
Luo Xianglin,
Qiu Di,
He Bin,
Wang Lijian,
Luo Juan
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
macromolecular bioscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.924
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1616-5195
pISSN - 1616-5187
DOI - 10.1002/mabi.200500236
Subject(s) - copolymer , microsphere , morphology (biology) , polymer , chemical engineering , peg ratio , materials science , heparin , polymer chemistry , porosity , drug carrier , chemistry , drug delivery , nanotechnology , composite material , finance , biology , engineering , economics , genetics , biochemistry
Summary: Microspheres of amphiphilic triblock polymers PLLA‐PEG‐PLLA were investigated as carriers for heparin delivery. Two series of PLLA‐PEG‐PLLA triblock were synthesized and prepared into microspheres with heparin loaded. The microspheres were hollow and the surface morphology varied from smooth to porous. The pore size increased with increasing PEG content. The microsphere size distribution showed that higher PEG content increased the average microsphere size. The release rate of heparin was closely related to the surface morphology of the microspheres. DSC spectra showed that both cold crystalline temperature ( T c ) and crystalline melting temperature ( T m ) of heparin‐loaded microspheres were related to the copolymer composition and the T c was lower than those of corresponding pure microspheres.