Effect of Temperature of Dissolution on The Release Kinetics of Phenobarbitone from Poly (Dl-Lactic Acid) Microcapsules: Calculation of Activation Energy.

Abstract

Poly (DL-lactic acid) [DL-PLA] microcapsules containing phenobarbitone (core:polymer, 1:2) were prepared using three different molecular weight polymers, 20,500, 13,300 and 5,200. Buffer pH 9 ware used to study dissolution rate at temperatures of 10°, 15°, 20°, 25°, 30° and 37°C. The release mechanism followed “Higuchi's” square root of time relationship at all these temperatures and allowed calculation of release rate from the straight line portion of release curve. These microcapsules showed an initial burst phase release followed by a lag phase; both of these phases are affected by the temperature of dissolution and polymer molecular weight. The normalized release rate [K_h2/SSA] was found to lower linearly with the lowering of temperature with all three polymers. Arrhenius plot of the normalized release rate allowed calculation of the activation energy (Ea) for the polymers. It was found to lower linearly with the increase in DL-PLA polymer molecular weight.