PLGA

Description

Poly (lactic co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) is composed of two kinds of monomers, lactic acid and glycolic acid, which can be fermented at random.

Uses

PLGA is a kind of biodegradable functional polymer organic compound, with good biocompatibility, non-toxicity, good performance of forming capsules and films, has been widely used in pharmaceutical, medical engineering materials and modern industrial fields.

Application

PLGA is a biodegradable aliphatic polyester-based polymer that comprises a synthetic copolymer of lactic acid (α-hydroxy propanoic acid) and glycolic acid (hydroxy acetic acid). PLGA has been used extensively for the drug delivery due to its biodegradable and biocompatible nature and different drug delivery systems have been prepared including ophthalmic delivery. PLGA finds a variety of applications to be used as carriers for the delivery of bioactive molecules (Dwivedi et al., 2013). It is approved by the FDA and found to be both biodegradable and biocompatible for specific human clinical applications. The drug release rate is controlled by the structure and the solubility of drug molecules.

Synthesis

PLGA is synthesized by means of ring-opening co-polymerization of two different monomers, the cyclic dimers (1,4-dioxane-2,5-diones) of glycolic acid and lactic acid. Polymers can be synthesized as either random or block copolymers thereby imparting additional polymer properties.