Polycaprolactone carriers

Liposphere formulations are prepared by solvent or melt processes. In the melt method, the active agent is dissolved or dispersed in the melted solid carrier (i.e., tristearin or polycaprolactone) and a hot buffer solution is added at once, along with the phospholipid powder. The hot mixture is homogenized for about 2 to 5 min, using a homogenizer or ultrasound probe, after which a uniform emulsion is obtained. The milky formulation is then rapidly cooled down to about 20°C by immersing the formulation flask in a dry ice-acetone bath, while homogenization is continued to yield a uniform dispersion of lipospheres. 

Arote R, Kim TH, Kim YK et al (2007) A biodegradable poly(ester amine) based on polycaprolactone and polyethylenimine as a gene carrier. Biomaterials 28 735-744... 

Munk and co-woricers have been concerned with the above-stated problem for some time (38, 39). In this volume (40), their attention is focused on miscible blends of polycaprolactone and polyepichlorohydrin. These authors demonstrate that to a considerable degree the probe variation problem can be mitigated by scrupulous attention to experimental details in the IGC methodology. This concern for details is required at any rate, if the high data reproducibility needed for meaningful studies of interaction in miscible polymer blends is to be attained. These details center on modified methods for coating polymers onto solid supports, on improved methods for measuring carrier gas flow rates, and on enhanced, computer-based data analyses of elution traces. Also, corrections are made for contributions to retention times from uncoated support material. More than twenty volatile probes are used by Munk, and the probe-to-piobe variations in %23, while not entirely absent, are much less apparent than they would be under standard experimental protocols. 

Duan K, Zhang X et al (2010) Fabrication of cationic nanomicelle from chitosan-graft-polycaprolactone as the carrier of 7-ethyl-lO-hydroxy-camptothecin. Colloids Surf B 76 475 82... 

Nanospheres of PEC-Polycaprolactone A-B Block Copolymer as a Novel Drug Carrier... 

In terms of pharmaceutical applications, copolymers have been used as drug carriers for controlled release applications. Controlled release polymer vesicles are prepared using hydrolysable block copolymers such as PLAEG, which is poly-lactic acid co-polyethylene glycol, PLAEG (ie, polycaprolactone-co-polyethylene glycol). 

Biodegradable polymer colloids and suspensions in submicron and in micron-size ranges have been investigated as potential carriers for sustained drug delivery and targeting. Both natural (e.g., albumin) and synthetic (e.g., polylactic acid, polycaprolactone, polyacrylates and polyalkylcyanoacrylates) polymers have been used in these applications. 

This new starch-PCL resin is being marketed under the name ENVAR for film applications like compost, trash and retail carrier bags. Properties are comparable to LDPE films and better than pure polycaprolactone film. 

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