Release retardation of model protein on polyelectrolyte-coated PLGA nano- and microparticles

PEM capsules have been proposed for vehicles of drug microencapsulation, with the release triggered by pH, salt, magnetic field, or light. When built on another carrier encapsulating drugs, such as nanoparticles, it could provide additional release barrier to the releasing drug, providing further control to drug release. Although liposomes have received considerable attention with PEM coating for sustained drug release, similar results employing PEM built on poly(lactic-co-lycolic acid) (PLGA) particles is scant. In this work, we demonstrate that the build-up pH and polyelectrolyte pairs of PEM affect the release retardation of BSA from PLGA particles. PAH/PSS pair, the most commonly used polyelectrolyte pair, was used in comparison with PLL/DES. In addition, we also demonstrate that the release retardation effect of PEM-coated PLGA particles diminishes as the particle size increases. We attribute this to the diminishing relative thickness of the PEM coating with respect to the size of the particle as the particle size increases, reducing the diffusional resistance of the PEM.