www.scholarsresearchlibrary.com t Available online a Scholars Research Library Annals of Biological Research, 2012, 3 (9):4414-4419 (http://scholarsresearchlibrary.com/archive.html) ISSN 0976-1233 CODEN (USA): ABRNBW 4414 Scholars Research Library pH Dependent Encapsulation of Doxorubicin in PLGA Manisha Khemani 1 , Maheshwar Sharon 2 and Madhuri Sharon 3 * 1 Department of Chemistry, Momin College, Bhiwandi, Maharashtra 2 N.S. N. Research Centre for Nanotechnology & Bionanotechnology, Jambhul Phata, Ambernath (W) 421 505, Maharashtra, India _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT PLGA nanoparticles loaded with doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX.HCl) were prepared using Biodegradable poly (D, L – lactide-co-glycolide) – 75:25, by o/w and w/o/w emulsification solvent evaporation method using PVA (Mol. Wt. 9000) as surfactant. The encapsulation efficiency of the drug in w/o/w emulsification solvent evaporation method was found to be greatly affected by pH when the experiments were carried out at two pH i.e. 7 and 8. The maximum encapsulation efficiency was found to be 79% . Nanoparticles were morphologically characterized using SEM and particle size analyzer. The average size of the particles was 200nm. Doxorubicin attached PLGA was confirmed by FTIR analysis. In vitro drug release analysis was done at pH 7 and pH 7.4.It was found that drug release was faster at pH 7. Keywords: PLGA, Doxorubicin, Drug-encapsulation, PVA, Drug-release _____________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION There are efforts to harness the potential of medicinal nanotechnology to improve the health of human beings and especially to fight the second largest disease of the world i.e. cancer. Doxorubicin hydrochloride is a widely used drug for treatment of a number of different types of cancers. Since FDA approval in the 1970s, this drug has been successfully used to treat a range of cancers including various leukemia, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, various lymphomas, etc. [1, 2]. Despite its potent activity, Doxorubicin- HCl has a number of disadvantages including short plasma circulation half-life, long elimination half-life, and nonspecific cell-cytotoxicity. These shortcomings can lead to dose-limiting side effects including cardiomyopathy and myelosuppression [3,4]. Encapsulating Doxorubicin- HCl in drug carriers like polymeric nanoparticles [5,6,7], liposomes [3, 8], microspheres [9, 10] and hydrogel [4] ); is expected to inhibit these disadvantages [11, 12 ] e.g. Use of depot formulations such as microspheres and hydrogels can reduce toxic side effects while providing extended drug release period that may last up to months. Use of nanoparticulate carriers such as polymeric micelles, polymeric nanoparticles and liposomes to deliver doxorubicin-HCl can confer additional advantages such as prolonged circulation half-life and increased accumulation in tumors due to EPR (enhanced permeation and retention) effect, where the leaky vasculature and poor lymphatic drainage around tumors improve drug retention. Drug delivery polymers that are biodegradable macromolecules have a variety of uses in drug delivery systems e.g. as scaffolds in tissue engineering, in hydrogel, for PEGylation, for polymer-drug conjugation, polymer therapeutics,