A supercritical fluid-based coating technology. 2: solubility considerations.

Solubility measurements of candidate coating materials have been performed in supercritical (SC) CO(2) so as to select appropriate coating materials for implementation of a solvent-free coating process previously described. Solubility of lipidic compounds such as waxes (paraffin, beeswax, Carnauba wax), pure triglycerides (tricaprin, trimyristin, tripalmitin, tristearin) and mixture of glycerides and fatty acid esters (Gelucire) in SC CO(2) were evaluated in a static mode under different temperature and pressure conditions, ranging from 13-52 degrees C and from 50-220 bar, whether the CO(2)was in its liquid or SC state. It was shown that the compounds which are mixtures of various components give rise to a selective extraction of the lower melting point components, as evidenced from thermal analysis of soluble and insoluble fractions of the coating materials.

In vitro controlled release kinetics of local anaesthetics from poly(D,L-lactide) and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) microspheres.

Poly(D,L)lactide and polylactide-co-glycolide drug-loaded microspheres were prepared with lipopholic (bupivacaine and etidocaine) and hydrophilic (mepivacine and lidocaine) local anaesthetics. Formulations of drug-loaded microspheres were characterized by the drug content, the in-vitro release kinetics and by the physical state of the drug within the microspheres. Release rates of the local anaesthetics from the microspheres were different and could not be accounted for by the intrinsic dissolution rates of the drugs. The encapsulation efficiency was highly dependent on the lipophilicity of the drugs, reaching the maximum for the lipophilic drugs and the poly(lactide-co-glycolide) polymers. The influence of the molecular weight of the poly(lactide-co-glycolide) polymers on the release rate and on the release mechanism depended on the drug studied and its physical state within the polymeric matrices. Diffusion-controlled release was evidenced in various formulations as a result of the linearity of the release as a function of the square root of time.