Phosphoglyceride-coated polylactic acid porous microspheres and its regulation of curcumin release behavior

Polymer microspheres are widely used as carriers in delivering of hydrophobic or hydrophilic drugs. Surface coating of microspheres could be one of the attractive strategies to improve their properties. In this study, biodegradable polymer polylactic acid was dissolved in chloroform and non-solvent to electrospray porous polymer microspheres. The properties of the microspheres were improved by phosphoglyceride (P-P-Gly) coating, and its behavior was investigated by loading with curcumin as a model drug. The morphologies of different microspheres were observed by scanning electron microscope. The results indicated that the microspheres obtained by dimethyl sulfoxide as non-solvent could form the structure with porous characteristics. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis revealed that P-P-Gly was successfully coated on the surface of the microspheres. In addition, the thermal behavior of the coated microspheres was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. In vitro release experiments indicated that the drug-loaded microspheres showed a very gentle release trend, which was mainly due to the P-P-Gly coating could not completely cover the pores of the microspheres. The P-P-Gly-coated microspheres prepared in this work can be used as controlled release drug carriers with special needs.

Automated summary

Polymer microspheres are used as carriers for hydrophobic or hydrophilic drugs, and surface coating with phosphoglyceride (P-P-Gly) can improve their properties. The microspheres prepared in this study showed porous characteristics, with P-P-Gly successfully coated on the surface. In vitro release experiments demonstrated a gentle drug release trend due to incomplete coverage of microspheres' pores by the coating.