Multi‐Drug‐Loaded Microcapsules with Controlled Release for Management of Parkinson's Disease

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive disease of the nervous system, and is currently managed through commercial tablets that do not sufficiently enable controlled, sustained release capabilities. It is hypothesized that a drug delivery system that provides controlled and sustained release of PD drugs would afford better management of PD. Hollow microcapsules composed of poly-l-lactide (PLLA) and poly (caprolactone) (PCL) are prepared through a modified double-emulsion technique. They are loaded with three PD drugs, i.e., levodopa (LD), carbidopa (CD), and entacapone (ENT), at a ratio of 4:1:8, similar to commercial PD tablets. LD and CD are localized in both the hollow cavity and PLLA/PCL shell, while ENT is localized in the PLLA/PCL shell. Release kinetics of hydrophobic ENT is observed to be relatively slow as compared to the other hydrophilic drugs. It is further hypothesized that encapsulating ENT into PCL as a surface coating onto these microcapsules can aid in accelerating its release. Now, these spray-coated hollow microcapsules exhibit similar release kinetics, according to Higuchi's rate, for all three drugs. The results suggest that multiple drug encapsulation of LD, CD, and ENT in gastric floating microcapsules could be further developed for in vivo evaluation for the management of PD.

Functionalization of Cotton Fabrics with Polycaprolactone Nanoparticles for Transdermal Release of Melatonin

“…Concerning the production of PCL nanoparticles, a wide range of techniques are currently used at research level. These methods include solvent evaporation [ 22 ], double emulsion [ 23 ], emulsion polymerization [ 24 ], spray drying [ 25 ], and solvent displacement [ 26 ]. Among the above mentioned technologies, a particular version of the solvent-displacement approach called flash nanoprecipitation (FNP) [ 27 ] has garnered interest in terms of reproducibility and control, two key factors for scale-up to industrial production [ 28 ].…”

Sustained-releasing hollow microparticles with dual-anticancer drugs elicit greater shrinkage of tumor spheroids

“…While a few studies report on the co-delivery of two anticancer drugs from a single particulate formulation [ 16 , 17 ], the release profiles of these multiple drugs cannot be easily adjusted. Achieving controlled release in combination therapy is critical because the likelihood of severe side effects with the use of multiple drugs is higher compared to the administration of a single drug [ 18 , 19 ]. Another issue with co-drug delivery lies in the ability to overcome poor drug encapsulation efficiency (EE), especially hydrophilic drugs, within a single formulation [ 20 ].…”

Osmogen‐Mediated One‐Step Technique of Fabricating Hollow Microparticles for Encapsulation and Delivery of Bioactive Molecules

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