Protein encapsulation and release from PEO-b-polyphosphoester templated calcium carbonate particles

Calcium carbonate particles are promising candidates as proteins carriers for their controlled delivery in the body. The present paper aims at investigating the protein encapsulation by in situ precipitation of calcium carbonate particles prepared by a process based on supercritical CO₂ and using a new type of degradable well-defined double hydrophilic block copolymers composed of poly(ethylene oxide) and polyphosphoester blocks acting as templating agent for the calcium carbonate. For this study, lysozyme was chosen as a model for therapeutic protein for its availability and ease of detection. It was found that by this green process, loading into the CaCO₃ microparticles with a diameter about 2μm can be obtained as determined by scanning electron microscopy. A protein loading up to 6.5% active lysozyme was measured by a specific bioassay (Micrococcus lysodeikticus). By encapsulating fluorescent-labelled lysozyme (lysozyme-FITC), the confocal microscopy images confirmed its encapsulation and suggested a core-shell distribution of lysozyme into CaCO₃, leading to a release profile reaching a steady state at 59% of release after 90min.