Often neglected: PLGA/PLA swelling orchestrates drug release: HME implants.

Different types of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)- and poly(lactic acid) (PLA)-based implants for controlled dexamethasone release were prepared by hot melt extrusion (HME). The lactic acid:glycolic acid ratio was varied (50:50, 75:25, 100:0) as well as the drug loading (1-15%). Resomer RG 502H, RG 752H and R 202H (all with -COOH end groups) were studied. The implants were characterized before and after exposure to phosphate buffer pH 7.4 at 37 °C. Interestingly, in all cases polymer swelling seems to play an "orchestrating" role for drug release: At early time points, the amounts of water penetrating into the systems are limited (since the macromolecules are hydrophobic and highly entangled). Consequently, only small amounts of drug can dissolve and the dissolved drug molecules are not sufficiently mobile to diffuse out to a noteworthy extent (negligible dexamethasone release for up to 6 weeks). However, the water that is able to enter the implants at early time points cleaves the polyesters right from the beginning. Due to the newly generated -COOH end groups and decreased chain length, the macromolecules become more and more hydrophilic and less entangled. In addition, water-soluble polymer degradation products build up a steadily increasing osmotic pressure, attracting water into the system. Once a critical polymer molecular weight threshold range (around 8 kDa) is reached, substantial implant swelling starts: The systems' volume increases up to 600-1700% and the water contents exceeds 80-90% (partially approaching 100%). Under these fundamentally altered conditions, significant drug amounts can dissolve and the dissolved drug molecules are sufficiently mobile to diffuse out of the implants: Drug release sets on. In brief, polymer swelling "orchestrates" the involved mass transport phenomena: It enables drug release after a certain lag time by fundamentally changing the conditions for drug dissolution and diffusion. Note that in other types of implants, additional mass transport phenomena might be involved, e.g. no burst release was observed from the investigated, initially non-porous implants.