beta-Estradiol biodegradable microspheres: effect of formulation parameters on encapsulation efficiency and in vitro release.

The purpose of this work was to study the effect of organic solvent and surfactant type on the in vitro release behavior in general and on the burst release in particular of beta-estradiol from PLA/PLGA microspheres. Also the effect of these variables on the encapsulation efficiency was investigated. The microspheres were prepared by solvent evaporation technique using dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate (EtAc), tetrahydrofuran (THF), chloroform (CHCl3) or acetone (AC) as organic solvent and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), Tween 80, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) or benzalkonium chloride (BKCI) as surfactant. The obtained microspheres were tested for encapsulation efficiency and in vitro drug release using 50% methanol/buffer pH 7.4 as dissolution medium. EtAC and PVA formulations showed the highest encapsulation efficiency and the lowest burst release. These microspheres were further characterized for particle size distribution, SEM and zeta potential. The results suggested that these materials could be starting materials to prepare a beta-estradiol biodegradable controlled delivery system.