FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF BSA LOADED PLGA MICROPARTICLES

Protein drug delivery has emerged to be an important area of research in the field of novel drug delivery technology. The objective of the study was to prepare poly (D, L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microspheres containing bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a  model  drug  and  to  evaluate  the  various  physicochemical  characteristics  of  the formulations, namely morphology, particle size, FTIR, DSC, BSA encapsulation  efficiency  and   in-vitro  BSA  release profile. BSA-loaded microspheres were  prepared  by  double  emulsion  solvent  evaporation  method  with  different  BSA: PLGA  ratios  and  at  different  speeds  of  homogenization  keeping  the  amount  of  BSA constant in all the formulations. Out of those 1:10 was selected as a optimized (drug: polymer) for BSA loaded PLGA microspheres, there after internal parameters like volume of inner aqueous phase(2ml), volume of DCM(10ml), concentration of polymer (9.09%),speed of homogenization, were selected as a optimized formulation parameters. Accelerated  stability  testing  was  performed  with  the  optimized formulations  for  a  period  of  eight  weeks. The  mean  particle  size  and  encapsulation efficiency  of  the  microspheres  were  found  to  decrease  as  the  speed  of  homogenization increased.  And  the  same  were  found  to  increase  simultaneously  with  increase  in  the amount of polymer. The in vitro release study showed a slow and steady release pattern of BSA. Accelerated stability studies indicated that formulations here stable during the period of study. Thus, a sustained release formulation of protein loaded PLGA microspheres was developed.