Premium
Relationship among drug delivery behavior, degradation behavior and morphology of copolylactones derived from glycolide, l ‐lactide and ε‐caprolactone
Author(s) -
Cai Qing,
Bei Jianzhong,
Wang Shenguo
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
polymers for advanced technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.61
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1099-1581
pISSN - 1042-7147
DOI - 10.1002/pat.161
Subject(s) - lactide , materials science , plga , degradation (telecommunications) , copolymer , caprolactone , drug delivery , drug , drug carrier , liquid crystalline , kinetics , controlled release , morphology (biology) , glass transition , lag time , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , polymer , composite material , pharmacology , nanoparticle , nanotechnology , medicine , telecommunications , physics , engineering , quantum mechanics , biology , computer science , biological system , genetics
A series of copolylactones was synthesized by ring‐opening copolymerization of glycolide, L ‐lactide and ϵ‐caprolactone, using stannous octoate as catalyst. The in vitro degradation behaviors of them were studied and data demonstrated different degradation rates which mainly depended on the compositions. Investigation of the 5‐fluorouracil (5‐Fu) release from these copolylactones revealed that the composition, degradation rate and the morphology of the polymeric matrix played an important role on the drug release kinetics. A sustained 5‐Fu release without initial time lag was obtained from random poly(lactide‐co‐glycolide‐co‐caprolactone) (r‐PGLC) drug carrier, and it differed from the cases of polylactide (PLA) or random poly(lactide‐co‐glycolide) (PLGA), which usually showed an initial time lag or biphasic drug release behavior. It was due to the low glass transition temperature ( T g ) of the r‐PGLC and the drug would diffuse faster in rubbery state under the experimental temperature. Furthermore, a significant change in the drug release behavior of r‐PGLC was observed when the temperatures were changed around the T g of the drug carrier, which implied that the drug release behavior could be regulated by adjusting the morphology of the drug carrier. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.