Synthesis and characterization of doxorubicin-loaded poly(lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles as a sustained-release anticancer drug delivery system.

The objective of the present study was to prepare a polymeric drug delivery system with no burst effect. To attain this goal, doxorubicin (Dox) as an effective anticancer drug was loaded into poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) to improve the drug performance and also maximize the release period. After the synthesis process, the freshly made PLGA NPs with two different lactide-to-glycolide ratios (75:25 and 50:50) were evaluated physically and chemically. To determine the encapsulation efficiency, a centrifugation method was applied. Also, the drug loading effect on particle size, polydispersity index, and zeta potential was examined. The results indicated that the NPs had nearly the same diameters around 360 nm, and the entrapment efficiencies for 75:25 PLGA and 50:50 PLGA were reported around 39 and 48 %, respectively. A slight increase in all parameters was observed due to the increase of the drug loading content. The primary release was 7.91 % (w/w) and 14.70 % (w/w) for 75:25 and 50:50 drug-loaded NPs, respectively; no burst effect was observed. After 20 days, the drug release was around 70.98 and 62.22 % of the total entrapped drug for 75:25 and 50:50 drug-loaded NPs, respectively. Finally, it was found that Dox was an appropriate anticancer agent with good capability to be encapsulated in polymeric NPs and could be released from the carriers with no burst effect and favor rate.