Polylactide Microparticles Prepared by Double Emulsion/Evaporation Technique. I. Effect of Primary Emulsion Stability

The process of microencapsulation of proteins by double emulsion-evaporation in a matrix of polylactide (PLA) can be divided into three successive steps: first, an aqueous solution of the active compound is emulsified into an organic solution of the hydrophobic coating polymer; second, this primary water-in-oil (w/o) is dispersed in water with formation of a double water-oil-water emulsion (w/o/w), third, the organic solvent is removed with formation of solid microparticles. This paper focuses of the effect of primary emulsion stability on the morphology and properties of polylactide microparticles loaded with bovine serum albumin (BSA) used as model drug.