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Updated: May 24, 2026

Preparation and Characterization of Individual and Multi-drug Loaded Physically Entrapped Polymeric Micelles
Published on: August 28, 2015
Characterization and evaluation of self-microemulsifying sustained-release pellet formulation of puerarin for oral
Yi Zhang1, Ruirui Wang, Jian Wu
1School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China.
Abstract:
The present study aims to develop self-microemulsifying drug delivery systems (SMEDDS) in sustained-release pellets of puerarin to enhance the oral bioavailability of puerarin. The performances of puerarin-SMEDDS including oils, emulsifiers, and co-emulsifiers were evaluated. Pseudo-ternary phase diagrams shows that the optimized formulation consisted of castor oil as the oil phase, Cremophor EL as the emulsifier, and 1,2-propanediol as the co-emulsifier. SMEDDS sustained-release pellets were prepared via extrusion-spheronization. The particle size distributions of the formulations were determined using transmission electron microscopy and scanning electronic microscopy. The mean particle size was 50 ± 8 nm. The pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of the puerarin-SMEDDS sustained-release pellets and puerarin tablets were evaluated and compared in beagle dogs. The absolute bioavailability of the puerarin-SMEDDS sustained-release pellets was enhanced by approximately 2.6-fold compared with that of the puerarin tablet. The relative bioavailability (F(rel)) of the SMEDDS pellets was 259.7% compared with the tablet group. The results demonstrated that the puerarin-SMEDDS sustained-release pellets had a sustained-release effect, and could remarkably improve the oral bioavailability of puerarin.
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