Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) microspheres with good biocompatibility.

Abstract

Purpose: Curcumin and icariin have multiple pharmacological effects and are widely used in various fields, but their short half-life, poor bioavailability and low water solubility greatly limit their application in clinical medicine. Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) loaded microspheres not only solve these problems, but also have no toxicity in degradation. Methods: To verify whether PLGA drugloaded microspheres have good biocompatibility, the present experiments used the emulsification-solvent evaporation method to prepare PLGA drug-loaded microspheres and successfully performed the loading of curcumin and icariin. Results: The scanning electron microscopy showed that the particle sizes of the PLGA microspheres were 2-15 μm, icariin/PLGA microspheres were 3-22 μm and curcumin/PLGA microspheres were 5-30 μm. Moreover, the surface of the microspheres was smooth and spherical. Furthermore, the drug loading and encapsulation rate were good. In vitro experiments revealed that the prepared PLGA microspheres were safe and nontoxic, and that they could release drugs stably and slowly. Moreover, their proliferation ability was unaffected after inoculation into bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), and Alcian blue Staining was performed at last, demonstrating their biocompatibility and important applications in tissue engineering.