A short-term (accelerated release) approach to evaluate peptide release from PLGA depot formulations

An accelerated method to evaluate peptide release from poly(dl-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) depot formulations in short time is described. Peptide-loaded microspheres were made from hydrophilic 50:50 PLGA by a dispersion-solvent extraction technique, and peptide release was studied at 37 degrees C and at higher temperatures in various media. For all accelerated conditions, release was faster at temperatures above the glass transition, Tg, of the host polymer. Complete release of peptide from 8600 MW PLGA was achieved in 35 hours at 50 degrees C in buffered and nonbuffered media containing 0.5% polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Type of release media and concentration of PVA influenced the release profiles. A PVA concentration of 0.1 to 0.5% was found to prevent aggregation of microspheres at higher temperatures, with an increase in release at the higher PVA concentration. Peptide release was associated with a reduction of pH of the releasing media and increased mass loss. Complete peptide release at pH 4 from 8.6 kd and 28 kd PLGA at 50 and 60 degrees C occurred within 30-40 hours and correlated well with the real-time release at 37 degrees C and pH 7.0. At the higher molecular weight, a slightly longer accelerated release time and higher temperature were required to correlate with the real-time release. The data suggest that by optimization of release conditions such as temperature, surfactant concentration, buffer component, and pH, an accelerated study could be employed to evaluate depot formulations for a given polymer type.