In Vitro Study of the Release of Drugs Impregnated by Supercritical Technology in Polylactic Acid for Biomedical Applications

The manufacture of functionalized bioabsorbable polymeric implants is gaining attention in recent years. These devices administer gradually and locally drugs or biomolecules to treat several diseases and they disappear once they perform their function. In this work, ketoprofen, an anti-inflammatory drug with analgesic and antipyretic effects, was loaded by supercritical solvent impregnation (SSI) in polylactic acid (PLA) filaments, and the initial stage of its in vitro release was explored. Impregnation experiments were carried out in a range of pressure and temperature of 25-40 MPa and 328-348 K. Different drug loading values were obtained (up to 9 % respecting the polymer mass) depending on the operating conditions.The ketoprofen release profile and the mathematical modelling (Korsmeyer-Peppas and Peppas-Sahlin models) showed an initial release governed by diffusion and with different kinetics depending on the impregnation conditions. Thus, this study reveals that SSI could be used to manufacture personalized drug-delivery implants based on the final dose and required dosing rate.