EP1063970A1

EP1063970A1 - Slow release microcapsules

Info

Publication number: EP1063970A1
Application number: EP99908958A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Uwe Bayer; Bernd Hahn; Anna Majeres
Original assignee: Aventis Research and Technologies GmbH and Co KG
Current assignee: Aventis Research and Technologies GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 1998-03-25
Filing date: 1999-03-12
Publication date: 2001-01-03
Also published as: WO1999048479A1; AU736941B2; JP2002507472A; AU2836599A; DE19813010A1; CA2325554A1

Abstract

The inventive method for producing microcapsules is characterised in that a) in one step, liquid drops of an aqueous solution (1) containing at least one water-soluble polyanion are added to an aqueous solution (2) containing the following: 0.1 to 5 wt. % calcium cations; and 0.1 to 5 wt. % hydrolyzed chitosan with a number average molecular weight of between 2,200 and 40,000 g/mol., obtained by partial hydrolysis of a chitosan with a number average molecular weight of more than 50,000 g/mol. in an aqueous solution containing 0.1 to 4 N HCl at a temperature of between 50 and 95 DEG C for 0.5 to 8 hours, the weight ratio of the solution containing HCl to usual commercial chitosan being between 1 and 50 and the product of normality of the HCl solution and the duration of hydrolysis in hours being between 0.1 and 7; and in that b) once the addition of solution 1 is complete, the resulting microcapsules remain in solution 2 for a duration of 15 to 360 minutes, preferably 60 to 180 minutes.

Description

1

Delayed release microcapsules

description

The present invention relates to microcapsules with a greatly delayed release of the active ingredients.

The term microcapsules is understood to mean capsules with a size of 50 nm to 3 mm, which have an outer shell made of polymers and an inner, usually liquid phase. Microcapsules are usually produced by encapsulating finely dispersed liquid phases by coating with film-forming polymers. Such microcapsules are used above all in the field of depot preparations, according to which the active substance located in the inner phase of the microcapsules is protected by the shell of the microcapsule and is not released immediately but only with a delayed release (active substance release).

It is known to produce microcapsules by atomizing an organic polymer solution, the liquid droplets produced in this way being sprayed into a precipitation bath.

For example, US-A-4,352,883 describes a two-stage process for producing microcapsules in which living cells, such as, for example, Langerhans islet cells, are encapsulated. For this purpose, the living cells are suspended in sodium alginate and this suspension is sprayed into a precipitation bath which contains polyvalent cations (for example Ca ²⁺ ). At the interface there is physical crosslinking of the alginate by the polyvalent cation. In the second step, the capsules produced in this way are mixed with a cationic polymer, which brings about further physical crosslinking. Polyethyleneimine and polylysine are mentioned as polycations in this publication.

These capsules are for proteins with a molecular weight less than 100,000 g / mol completely permeable. There is therefore no delayed release of these substances.

US-A-5 389 379 discloses a method for producing microcapsules in which the liquid droplets produced by means of an ultrasound nozzle are first introduced into a liquid in which the liquid droplets are not soluble (for example in ethanol). This liquid is then replaced by water in order to crosslink the microcapsules.

This process has the disadvantage that the active substance to be encapsulated must be dissolved in an organic solvent together with the film-forming polymer. This considerably limits the selection of active substances due to their solubility and possible denaturation by the solvent.

It is also known to use chitosan for the production of microcapsules. Chitossan is the general term for a polymer produced by deacetylating chitin, an unbranched β (1-4) -linked polysaccharide of 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose (N-acetyl-D-glucosamine) , is available.

Chitosan can be described by the following formula

wherein the ratio of deacetylated to acetylated segments is greater than 1 and the number average molecular weight is between 50,000 and several million g / mol. This chitosan is insoluble in water and can be obtained, for example, from Fluka. This is how CA. McKnight et al. in Journal of Bioactive and Compatible Poly- 3 mers, Vol. 3, 1988, pp. 334 to 355 a three-stage process for the production of microcapsules based on alginate and chitosan. According to this method, the alginate solution containing the active ingredient is first introduced into a calcium chloride solution, where the outer capsule surface is first hardened. The hardened capsules are then coated with a chitosan solution, which leads to a cross-linking of the outer shell. Finally, the microcapsules obtained in this way are washed with alginate. The chitosan used in this publication has a number average molecular weight of 160,000 to 330,000. Permeability studies of these chitosan / alginate membranes have shown that the molecular weight of the chitosan used has no significant influence on the permeation behavior of various proteins. After only two hours, 20% of the active ingredient BSA has diffused into the microcapsules containing chitosan. The release of these microcapsules is already very high after a short time.

A. Polk et al. report in "Controlled Release of Albumin from Chitosan-Alginate Microcapsules" in Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 1994, pp. 178 to 185 about the influence of the molecular weight of chitosan in microcapsules. The chitosan used in these experiments has a molecular weight of 250,000 to 1,250,000. These studies show that an increase in the molecular weight of the chitosan used is accompanied by a decrease in the release of the active substance albumin. The authors conclude that a higher molecular weight of the chitosan leads to the best results with regard to a delayed release of the active ingredient. The release of these microcapsules is already 50% of the encapsulated active ingredient after 24 hours.

A disadvantage of the known processes for producing chitosan-containing microcapsules is that they are produced in two or more different working steps. Above all, the transportation of the microcapsules from one reaction container to the other requires complex devices, especially when small microcapsules are to be produced. 4

The object of the present invention is to provide microcapsules which have a delayed release of the active compounds compared to the known prior art. In addition, these microcapsules are said to be easy to manufacture.

This object is achieved according to the invention by a process for the production of microcapsules, characterized in that a) liquid droplets of an aqueous solution 1 which contains at least one water-soluble polyanion are introduced into an aqueous solution 2 in one process step

0.1 to 5% by weight calcium cations; and

0.1 to 5% by weight of hydrolyzed chitosan with a number average molecular weight between 2,200 and 40,000 g / mol, obtainable by partial hydrolysis of a chitosan with a number average molecular weight of more than 50,000 g / mol in an aqueous 0.1 to 4 N. HCl-containing solution at a temperature between 50 and 95 ° C for a period between 0.5 and 8 hours, the weight ratio of HCl-containing solution to commercial chitosan is between 1 and 50 and the product of normality of the HCl solution and the hydrolysis time in hours is between 0.1 and 7; and b) after the addition of solution 1 has ended for a period of 15 to 360 minutes, in particular for a period of 60 to 180 minutes, the microcapsules thus obtained remain in solution 2.

The microcapsules produced according to the invention show a significantly reduced permeability compared to the chitosan-containing microcapsules of the prior art. After 10 days of measurement, the release of the microcapsules produced according to the invention is still below 50% (active ingredient: bovine serum albumin). In addition, the process according to the invention has the advantage that the microcapsules are produced in a single process step. The elaborate devices which were previously necessary in the multi-stage processes of the prior art for transporting the microcapsules are thus eliminated. 5

The aqueous solution 1 can be converted into liquid droplets by methods known per se. In particular, commercially available atomizers can be used for this.

It has proven to be advantageous if the water-soluble polyanion is an alginate, in particular an alginate with a high guluronic acid content. However, the water-soluble polyanion can also be selected from the group of carrageenan, sulfated polysaccharides, gelatin and agar.

According to a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention, solution 1 additionally contains at least one polyacid or its alkali salt, selected from the group of polyamino acids, polyphosphates and polysulfates of polysaccharides. Preferred examples of a polyphosphate are sodium polyphosphate and a polyphosphate of a polysaccharide.

The polysaccharide can be selected from the group of starch hydrolyzates,

Inulin, hydroxyethyl starch, xylan and dextrans.

Polyaspartic acid or polyglutamic acid is preferably used as the polyamino acid.

According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, solution 2 additionally contains a polycation selected from the group consisting of polyiysin, polyvinylamine, poly-α, β- (2-2dimethylaminoethyl) -D, L-aspartamide, aminated polysaccharides, such as e.g. aminated dextrans, cyclodextrins, cellulose ethers, starches, pectins, and their hydrophobically substituted derivatives.

The release can also be reduced by reacting the microcapsules with a crosslinker in an additional process step, selected from the group of glyoxal, glutardialdehyde, succinic acid dialdehyde, or dicarboxylic acids, such as oxalic acid, succinic acid, fumaric acid, maleic acid, in an additional process step. Malic acid, glutaric acid, adipic acid, 2,3-0-isopropylidenetartaric acid, diacid chlorides, such as succinic acid chloro- 6 rid, fumaric acid chloride, glutaric acid chloride, adipic acid chloride, or tricarboxylic acids, such as citric acid, 1,2,3-propane tricarboxylic acid, hemimellitic acid, trimellitic acid, trimesic acid.

The size of the microcapsules produced according to the invention is between 1 and 3,000 μm, in particular between 10 and 1,000 μm.

The microcapsules according to the invention are preferably used as carriers for active substances, in particular for pharmaceuticals, food additives, flavors, fragrances, colorants, herbicides, fungicides, bactericides, pesticides and insecticides.

The following examples serve to illustrate the invention.

example 1

Preparation of solution 1:

9 mg of sodium alginate from Sigma (catalog number: A-7128) together with 6 mg of BSA-FITC (from Sigma, catalog number: A-9771) are mixed in 3 ml of 0.9% NaCl Solution solved.

Preparation of solution 2:

1500 ml of 1.0 M hydrochloric acid are heated to 90 ° C. in a 4 l two-necked flask equipped with a cooler. Then 60 g of chitosan (available under the name Chitosan from Fluka, catalog no .: 22743) are slowly added with stirring. After the addition has taken place, the reaction mixture is stirred at 90 ° C. for 4 hours and then filtered through a G2 frit. The filtrate obtained is left overnight in a refrigerator at 2-8 ° C. The precipitate obtained in this way is isolated by centrifugation (Lobofuge GL from Heraeus; at 4500 rpm, 25 min). The residue is dissolved in water and freeze-dried using a freeze-drying device (LDC-1 m from Christ). 7

300 mg of the chitosan thus produced is dissolved in 15 ml of water together with 450 mg of CaCl ₂ (from Riedel deHaen, catalog no .: 12018).

Preparation of the microcapsules: Solution 1 is dripped into solution 2 by means of a nozzle consisting of a cannula with an inner diameter of 0.2 mm and an outer diameter of 0.4 mm. The nozzle is embedded concentrically in a hollow cylinder, so that a tangential air flow can be generated via the resulting annular gap, which entrains the drops emerging from the cannula. The drops thus created fall into solution 2.

After 1 ml of solution 1 has been introduced into 15 ml of solution 2, the microcapsules formed are allowed to sediment and the solution is decanted off. The microcapsules obtained are then suspended three times with 0.9% NaCl solution. The most common size of the microcapsules produced in this way was determined by diffraction of women and was 90μm.

Determination of drug release:

To determine the release properties of the capsules produced, the model protein BSA-FITC from Sigma (catalog number: A-9771) is used. Other materials are: Nathum alginate from Sigma (A-7128), Chitosan from Fluka (22743), CaCI ₂ from Riedel de Haen (12018), NaCI from Merck (6404). The release measurements are carried out in PBS buffer (Sigma, P4417), with an additional 0.005% timerosol (from Fluka, catalog number: 71230). After production, the PEC capsules are transferred to 10 ml PBS buffer solution, in 15 ml crimp-top vials, and the microcapsules are incubated at 37 ° C.

The BSA-FITC concentration was measured using a UV / VIS spectrophotomer from Beckmann (DU 70). First, the proportion of trapped BSA-FITC is determined by determining the BSA-FITC concentration in the combined supernatants. The concentration is determined by measuring the absorption at 494 nm using a calibration curve. A falsification of the measurement due to the intrinsic coloration of the chitosan is avoided by the absorption 8 tion of the chitosan is withdrawn. The amount of BSA-FITC used can be used to calculate how much of the BSA-FITC was included.

The release measurement is carried out by taking 3 ml from the incubation solution and determining the BSA-FITC concentration on this supernatant. After the measurement is completed, the sample solution is combined with the release sample. The release of the microcapsules obtained in this way is only 20% of the encapsulated active ingredient after 11 days.

Example 2

The procedure is analogous to Example 1. After the microparticle production, the particles are crosslinked with glyoxal. For this purpose, the microparticles are placed in 10 ml of a 2% by weight glyoxal solution for 30 minutes and left to stand. Then they are washed with 0.9% NaCl solution. The release of the microcapsules obtained in this way is less than 10% of the encapsulated active ingredient after 45 days.

Claims

9 Patent claims

1.) Process for the production of microcapsules, characterized in that a) in one process step liquid droplets of an aqueous solution 1, which contains at least one water-soluble polyanion, in an aqueous

Solution 2 are introduced containing

0.1 to 5% by weight calcium cations; and

2.) Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the water-soluble polyanion is an alginate, in particular an alginate with a high guluronic acid content.

3.) Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the water-soluble polyanion is selected from the group of carrageenan, sulfated polysaccharides, gelatin and agar-agar.

4.) Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the solution 1 additionally contains at least one polyacid or its alkali salt, selected from the group of polyamino acids, polyphosphates 10 and polysulfates of polysaccharides.

5.) Method according to claim 4, characterized in that the polyphosphate is sodium polyphosphate or a polyphosphate of a polysaccharide.

6.) Method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the polysaccharide is selected from the group of starch hydrolyzates, inulin, hydroxyethyl starch, xylan and dextrans.

7.) The method according to claim 4, characterized in that the polyamino acid is polyaspartic acid or polyglutamic acid.

8.) Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the solution 2 additionally contains a polycation, selected from the group of polylysine, polyvinylamine, poly-α, β- (2-2dimethylaminoethyl) -D, L-aspartamide, aminated Polysaccharides, such as aminated dextrans, cyclodextrins, cellulose ethers, starches, pectins, and their hydrophobically substituted derivatives.

9.) Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the microcapsules are reacted in an additional process step with a crosslinking agent, selected from the group of glyoxal, glutardialdehyde, succinic acid diaidehyde, or dicarboxylic acids, such as oxalic acid, succinic acid, fumaric acid, Maleic acid, malic acid, glutaric acid, adipic acid, 2,3-O-isopropylidene tartaric acid, diacid chlorides, such as, for example, succinic acid chloride, fumaric acid chloride, glutaric acid chloride, adipic acid chloride, or tricarboxylic acids, such as, for example, citric acid, 1, 2,3-propane tricarboxylic acid, hemimellitic acid, trimellic acid, trimellitic acid .

10.) Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the size of the microcapsules is between 1 and 3,000 microns, in particular between 10 and 1,000 microns. 11

11.) Use of the microcapsules produced by a process of the preceding claims as carriers for active ingredients, in particular for pharmaceuticals, food additives, flavors, fragrances, colorants, herbicides, fungicides, bactericides, pesticides and insecticides.