Sustained release of risperidone from biodegradable microspheres prepared by in-situ suspension-evaporation process

Risperidone-loaded poly (d,l-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microspheres were prepared with a suspension-evaporation process with an aqueous suspension containing an in situ-formed aluminum hydroxide inorganic gel (SEP-AL process) and evaluated for encapsulation efficiency, particle size, surface morphology, glass transition temperature, in vitro drug release profile, and in vivo behavior. The SEP-AL microspheres were compared with conventional oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion solvent evaporation method using polyvinylalcohol (PVA) as an emulsifier (CP-PVA process). The microspheres were spherical in shape. DSC measurements showed that risperidone crystallinity was greatly reduced due to the homogeneous distribution of risperidone in PLGA microspheres. In vitro drug release profile from the microspheres showed a sigmoidal pattern of negligible initial burst up to 24 h and minimal release (time-lag) for 7 days. After the lag phase, slow release took a place up to 25 days and then rapid release occurred sharply for 1 week. In vivo rat pharmacokinetic profile from the microspheres showed very low blood concentration level at the initial phase (up to 24 h) followed by the latent phase up to 21 days. At the 3rd week, main phase started and the blood concentration of the drug increased up to the 5th week, and then gradually decreased. The risperidone-loaded PLGA microspheres produced by SEP-AL process showed excellent controlled release characteristics for the effective treatment of schizophrenia patients.