ABSTRACT
Microcapsules may function as carriers of drugs to desired regions in the body and as depots from which drugs are released in a controlled pattern. In oral dosage forms, the primary concern in using microcapsules would be to obtain sustained release of drug in the gastrointestinal tract. In patients with pleuritis carcinomatosa, drainage of malignant pleural effusion and prevention of reaccumulation of the effusion are needed in addition to the treatment for the causal cancer. Reduced elimination half-lives and volumes of distribution, higher areas under the plasma level curves after 24 hours, and hence reduced total clearances were observed the administration of the nanosphere-bound doxorubicin as compared to free doxorubicin. Stability of cefoperazone in the poly(lactic acid) microspheres was also examined during a release experiment in vitro. Microspheres prepared with initial drug loading of 20% were used in the study.
