Abstract
Presented are data from a study of the aqueous properties of Poly Vinyl Alcohol (PVA), a well studied emulsifying agent, used in the preparation of biodegradeable Poly (DL-Lactide-Co-Glycolide) (PLGA) scaffolds/microparticles in water. How these properties affect the physical morphologies of PLGA scaffolds/microparticles produced from the various PVA solutions at different concentrations via the water emulsion synthetic method were also evaluated. UV-Visible absorbance measurements showed a quantitative correlation between the estimated concentrations of PVA used in solution preparations and the actual concentrations in solution. The physical appearance/morphologies of the PLGA scaffolds produced from the different PVA solutions were the same irrespective of the concentration used.
Highlights
Vinyl Alcohol (PVA) shown in figure 1 below, is a white non toxic[1], biodegradeable semi-crystalline polymer
While previous authors have compared the dissolution properties of Poly Vinyl Alcohol (PVA) and other polymers or different molecular weight PVA in various solvents, our study aims to look at the dissolution behavior of PVA in water only; by varying the concentrations of PVA (% w/v) added to a fixed volume of water to ascertain; (1) if the actual concentration of PVA in solution would increase quantitatively as the estimated concentration used, (2) how these changes in concentration would affect the physical characteristics of PLGA scaffolds produced from the differing PVA solutions
Distilled water was produced for this study using ELGA Purelab flex (Chemopharm, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia), while Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS) was supplied by Oxoid limted, Basingstoke, Hamshire, UK. 2.1 PVA solutions Approximately weighed samples of PVA were added to 250ml of distilled water pre-heated to 40 °C, under continous stirring
Summary
Vinyl Alcohol (PVA) shown in figure 1 below, is a white non toxic (included in the FDA inactive database)[1], biodegradeable semi-crystalline polymer. Duda et al.[26,27,28,29] and Huggins[30] concluded that the molecular diffusion of a polymer in solution is a complex process, strongly dependent on temperature, concentration, polymer molecular weight as well as its morphology, they reported the presence of an inter-molecular synergy between the polymer and the solvent molecules at elevated polymer concentrations which gives rise to a quicker dissolution of the polymer in solution These non-ideal behaviour of polymers in solution led Paul Flory[31] and Maurice Huggins[32] to develop a simple lattice model (FloryHuggins model) that could be used to understand this unique characteristics of polymeric solutions. While previous authors have compared the dissolution properties of PVA and other polymers or different molecular weight PVA in various solvents, our study aims to look at the dissolution behavior of PVA in water only; by varying the concentrations of PVA (% w/v) added to a fixed volume of water to ascertain; (1) if the actual concentration of PVA in solution would increase quantitatively as the estimated concentration used, (2) how these changes in concentration would affect the physical characteristics of PLGA scaffolds produced from the differing PVA solutions
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