Studies on the poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid microspheres of cisplatin for lung-targeting

Lung-targeting cisplatin-loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid microspheres (CDDP-PLGA-MS) were prepared by a solvent evaporation method. The uniform design was used to optimize the technology of preparation, the appearance and size distribution were examined by scanning electron microscope, and the aspects such as in vitro release characteristics, stability, drug loading, loading efficiency, pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution in rabbit were studied. The experimental results showed that the microspheres were globular in appearance and dispersed well. The average particle size was 12.8 mum with 98% of the microspheres being in the range of 5-30 mum. The drug loading and loading efficiency were 17.68 and 53.2%, respectively. The in vitro release behavior could be expressed by the following equation: 1 - Q = 0.424e(-0.360t) + 0.474e(-0.001t). After i.v. administration (15 min), the drug concentration of microspheres group in lung in rabbits was 212 mug/g, while that of controlled group was 1.37 mug/g. CDDP-PLGA-MS showed a combination of lung-targeting and sustained drug release in experiments on rabbits. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.