Kinetics of drug release from polylactic acid-hydrocortisone microcapsules

Polylactic acid microcapsules of similar particle size distribution containing various drug loadings of hydrocortisone were prepared. The microcapsules, which contained randomly dispensed drug particles, showed a dissolution pattern which consists of a fast first-stage and a slow second-stage drug release. Our studies showed that the kinetics of drug release from the microcapsules can be adequately described by a spherical matrix model based on a flux mechanism involving the diffusion of dissolved drug at the penetrating front of the dissolution medium. Drug loading played an important role in the control of drug release rate. An empirical relationship between drug loading and drug diffusibility through the polymeric matrix was developed and showed that the rate of drug release increased exponentially with the increase in drug loading. The microcapsules were further shown to exhibit increased rate of drug release in dissolution medium containing either cetylpyridium chloride or aerosol OT. The effect of the surfactants was attributed to surface tension lowering and improved wetting of the microcapsule particles.