Exploring polyvinylpyrrolidone in the engineering of large porous PLGA microparticles via single emulsion method with tunable sustained release in the lung: In vitro and in vivo characterization

Sustained pulmonary drug delivery is regarded as an effective strategy for local treatment of chronic lung diseases. Despite of the progress made so far, there remains a need for respirable drug loaded porous microparticles, where porosity of the microparticles can be readily engineered during the preparation process, with tunable sustained drug release upon lung deposition. In this work, polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) was used as a novel porogen to engineer PLGA-based large porous particles (LPPs) using single emulsion method, with fine tuning of the porosity, sustained drug release both in vitro and in vivo. Using cinaciguat as the model drug, influence of PVP content and PLGA type on the properties of the LPPs was characterized, including geometric particle size, drug encapsulation efficiency, tap density, theoretical and experimental aerodynamic particle size, specific surface area, morphology, and in vitro drug release. Solid state of cinaciguat in the LPPs was studied based on DSC and X-ray analysis. LPPs retention in the rat lung was carried out using bronchoalveolar lavage fluid method. Raw 264.7 macrophage cells were used for LPPs uptake study. Pharmacodynamic study was performed in mini-pigs in a well-established model of pulmonary arterial hypertension (thromboxane challenge). It was demonstrated that porosity of the LPPs is tunable via porogen content variation. Cinaciguat can be released from the LPP in a controlled manner for over 168h. Significant reduction of macrophage phagocytosis was presented for LPPs. Furthermore, LPPs was found to have extended retention time (~36h) in the rat lung and accordingly, sustained pharmacodynamics effect was achieved in mini-pig model. Taken together, our results demonstrated that this simple PLGA based LPPs engineering using single emulsion method with PVP as porogen may find extensive application for the pulmonary delivery of hydrophobic drugs to realize tunable sustained effect with good safety profile.