MS4232 - Biomaterials Biomedical Engineering MSc Program Mini-research project: Effects of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) characteristics on the release kinetics of a microsphere encapsulated model drug Introduction Sustained monolithic drug delivery systems (DDS) are particularly important for the production of modern biomedical devices. They operate by releasing bioactive compounds slowly over a period of time, and their release rate can be modified by many possible variables, such as composition, molecular weight, hydrophobicity of the polymer matrix, the size and shape of the resulting system or systemic effects (e.g., pH or temperature). In the future, DDSs could be a powerful solution to trigger tissue repair or regeneration in proximity of host tissues. Research aim This research project centres around the investigation of the effects of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) lactide/glycolide ratios and sphere size on the release profile of encapsulated dexamethasone (DXM). PLGA is a biodegradable polymer that has no toxic byproducts. DXM is a powerful anti-inflammatory corticosteroid and shows great potential as an osteoblast differentiation agent. It is also a suitable model drug to simulate the release of antibiotic bioactives from PLGA microspheres. Dexamethasone is encapsulated within PLGA microspheres to form a drug delivery system with sustained release (see schematics below).
T. Hickey et al., J. Biomed. Mat. Res., 61 (2002), 180
Research tasks and methodologies You will be involved in the following tasks: 1) Encapsulation of dexamethasone within PLGA microspheres by the use of oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion and
solvent evaporation method. This will be performed with:
a) Three different lactide:glycolide ratio PLGAs at a fixed molecular weight and sphere size b) Two different microsphere sizes at a fixed molecular weight and lactide:glycolide ratio
2) Microspheres characterization for morphology, size and size distribution, encapsulation efficiency using
scanning electron microscopy and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
3) Determination of the in-vitro DXM release profile in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) for the different type of
Based on the results obtained you will identify and discuss the relationships between PLGA microsphere characteristics and the changes in the release profile of dexamethasone in PBS. The project is performed in cooperation with the Laboratory for Process Equipment of the 3mE Faculty. Location: 3mE/MSE, Laboratory for Surface Biofunctionalization and the Laboratory for Process Equipment Supervisors: Gwen Dawes (daily) - , Room 8D-1-16, tel. 2783578 / Lidy Fratila-Apac3-03.
MS4232 - Biomaterials Faculty 3mE/Dept MSE/Section LMP-Biomaterials Technology
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Indian Journal of Weed Science 45 (4): 247–249, 2013 Distribution of weed flora of greengram and blackgram in Haryana S.S. Punia*, V.S. Hooda, Anil Duhan, Dharambir Yadav and Amarjeet Department of Agronomy, CCS Haryana Agricultural Univesrity, Hisar125 004 Received: 12 October 2013; Revised: 23 December 2013 ABSTRACT To study the floristic composition of weeds in greengram, 50
MS4232 - Biomaterials