Abstract
Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) is one of the most used polymers for drug delivery systems (DDSs). It shows excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, and allows spatio-temporal control of the release of a drug by altering its chemistry. In spite of this, few formulations have reached the market. To characterize and optimize the drug release process, mathematical models offer a good alternative as they allow interpreting and predicting experimental findings, saving time and money. However, there is no general model that describes all types of drug release of polymeric DDSs. This study aims to perform a statistical comparison of several mathematical models commonly used in order to find which of them best describes the drug release profile from PLGA particles synthesized by nanoprecipitation method. For this purpose, 40 datasets extracted from scientific articles published since 2016 were collected. Each set was fitted by the models: order zero to fifth order polynomials, Korsmeyer-Peppas, Weibull and Hyperbolic Tangent Function. Some data sets had few observations that do not allow to apply statistic test, thus bootstrap resampling technique was performed. Statistic evidence showed that Hyperbolic Tangent Function model is the one that best fit most of the data.
Highlights
For more than 50 years, through nanotechnology and biomedicine, formulations and devices have been developed with the aim of improving the delivery and transport of drugs inside the human body [1–3]
The drug release conditions were variable. 32 of the release assays were performed in Phosphate buffer saline (PBS), 3 in hydrochloric acid, 2 in Phosphate buffer (PB), 2 in Fetal bovine serum (FBS) and 1 in Simulated body fluids (STF)
While it is true that mathematical models are tools that help to understand the dynamics of a drug release, and to save time and money [115], it is important to note that these have shortcomings in terms of predictive power and in explaining and addressing all the physical, chemical and biological phenomena involved since they mainly describe the dominant event [62]
Summary
For more than 50 years, through nanotechnology and biomedicine, formulations and devices have been developed with the aim of improving the delivery and transport of drugs inside the human body [1–3]. The use of drug delivery systems (DDS) has brought great benefits such as altered drug pharmacokinetics, increased bioavailability, controlled and sustained drug
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