Effect of pH on the Formation of Acylated Octreotides by Poly(lactide-co-glycolide)

Abstract

The formation of acylated peptide impurities in poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) formulations is one of the major challenges to the development of successful sustained-release product. Octreotide, synthetic analogue of somatostatin, has been identified to be acylated in PLGA microsphere formulations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the pH effect on the formation of acylated octreotides by PLGA. In the incubation with PLGA in 0.1 M phosphate buffer at pH 7.4, approximately 98% of octreotide adsorbed to PLGA through 14 days and 66.3% of acylated octreotides were produced after 42 days, whereas the interaction of octreotide with PLGA was significantly inhibited in the incubation at pH 4, in which the acylated octreotides were observed to be 9.2% after 42 days. In the interaction study at pH 4.1-7.4, the production of acylated octreotides was demonstrated to be dependent on environmental pH. Below pH 5.0, the acylation of octreotide was significantly inhibited. This study indicates that the pH is the major factor for the formation of acylated octreotide in PLGA formulations.