Meeting the Needs of a Potent Carrier for Malaria Treatment: Encapsulation of Artemisone in Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) Micro- and Nanoparticles

Abstract

Biodegradable polymer nano- and microparticles are of interest as drug carriers due to their capability to modulate drug release. Two different methods, including solvent displacement and spray drying, are used, resulting in the fabrication of Artemisone (ART)-loaded polymeric nano- and microparticles, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and asymmetric flow field flow fractionation (AF4) are employed to evaluate the morphology and size of the particles. The encapsulation and loading efficiency of the drug as well as cumulative release are characterized using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). HPLC results confirm that the spray drying method provides higher encapsulation efficiencies of about 97%, whereas, in nanoparticles prepared by solvent displacement, the highest encapsulation efficiency is 71%. Using these production methods, round-shaped particles with homogeneous size distribution are fabricated. Moreover, the preparation procedure is optimized to obtain particles with the highest encapsulation and drug loading efficiency. Using the solvent displacement method, stable dispersions in water are obtained without adding any surfactant, whereas, for spray-dried microparticles, tween 80 is needed to redisperse particles. The micro- and nanoparticles show different release properties, which are of interest for drug delivery application of hydrophobic drugs like ART.