Hyperbranched Polymers as Drug Carriers: Microencapsulation and Release Kinetics

The aim of this work was to study the feasibility of hyperbranched polymers as drug carriers by employing different microparticle formation methods and the influence of loading methods on release kinetics. Commercially available hyperbranched polyester (Perstorp) and three polyesteramides (DSM) were loaded with the pharmaceutical acetaminophen. The gas antisolvent precipitation (GAS), the coacervation, and the particles from gas saturated solutions (PGSS) are among conventional processes that were used to prepare microparticles of drug-loaded hyperbranched polyesters for the first time. For preparing solid dispersions of drug-loaded hyperbranched polyesteramides the solvent method was applied. Infrared (IR) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) studies suggest that acetaminophen is partly dissolved in the polymer matrix and partly crystallized outside the polymer matrix. For acetaminophen-loaded polyesters prepared by the GAS method, the presence of free drugs is predominant when compared to microparticles prepared by the coacervation method. This event disappears for microparticles prepared by the PGSS method. Moreover, the release of drug from drug-loaded Bol-GAS is biphasic, where the initial burst (48%), indicating the presence of unincorporated drugs, is followed by a slow-release phase, suggesting the diffusion of drug through polymer matrices. The release of drugs from drug-loaded Bol-PGSS do not show this behavior since the drug is better dissolved or dispersed in polymer matrices. In the case of drug-loaded polyesteramides, coevaporates prepared from 3 hyperbranched structures (H1690, H1200, and H1500) using the solvent method result in different release kinetics. The hydrophobic characteristic of hyperbranched polyesteramide H1500 shows the biphasic release kinetic whereas the drug released from hydrophilic matrices H1690 and H1200 exhibits fast release comparable to that of pure drug.