Design of triptorelin loaded nanospheres for transdermal iontophoretic administration

Triptorelin is a decapeptide analog of luteinizing hormone releasing hormone, currently used for the treatment of sex-hormones dependents diseases. The aim of this work was to prepare triptorelin-loaded nanospheres useful for transdermal iontophoretic administration. Nanospheres were prepared with the double emulsion/solvent evaporation technique. The effect of three parameters on the encapsulation efficiency has been determined: the role of the pH of the internal and external aqueous phases, the nature of the organic solvent and the effect of three different poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) co-polymers. Particle size, zeta potential and release kinetics were also determined. The encapsulation efficiency varied from 4 to 83% reaching the maximum value when both the internal and the external water phases were brought to pH 7 (isoelectric point of the peptide), methylene chloride was used as solvent of the copolymers and PLGA rich in free carboxylic groups was employed. The release profiles obtained with this co-polymer were characterized by the absence of burst effect. This behavior as well as the high encapsulation efficiency was explained by an ionic interaction occurring between the peptide and the co-polymer. This supports the already expressed theory that the release of peptides and proteins from PLGA nanospheres is also governed by the affinity of the encapsulated molecule versus the polymer. The obtained nanoparticles, regarding their size, amount encapsulated and zeta potential, were shown to be suitable for transdermal iontophoretic administration.