Development and evaluation of nanoparticles based on mPEG-PLA for controlled delivery of vinpocetine: in vitro and in vivo studies

The aim of present study was to develop VIN-loaded mPEG-PLA nanoparticle systems. The VIN mPEG-PLA nanoparticles were prepared using an emulsion solvent evaporation method, and studied their particle size, morphology, encapsulation efficiency and drug-loading coefficient. Moreover, the nanoparticles were evaluated on the drug release behaviors in vitro and bioavailability in vivo. The results show that the spherical nanoparticles obtained were negatively charged with a zeta potential of about -23.4 mV and characterized similar to 110nm with a narrow size distribution. The encapsulation efficiency and drug loading of prepared NPs were 76.4 +/- 6.3 and 9.2 +/- 2.2% (n=5), respectively. The in vitro release showed that the percent of accumulated dissolution of VIN NPs in phosphate-buffered saline 6.8 over 24h was <80%, which was almost 100% of VIN in commercial injections. The in vivo study indicated that systemic absorption of VIN was significantly enhanced by incorporating into mPEG-PLA NPs compared with VIN injection (2.87-fold in AUC(0-t)). The results suggested that the form of VIN in mPEG-PLA NPs could enter the body circulation to perform sustained release in vitro and in vivo.