Poly(lactic-co-glycolic Acid) Based Drug Delivery Devices for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

Poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) is the most frequently used biodegradable polymer for developing nano/ microparticles encapsulating therapeutic drugs in controlled release (CR) applications. PLGA based drug delivery devices have several advantages over the conventional devices. One of the advantage is the extended release rates of drugs up to days, weeks or months. Other reasons for the widespread use of PLGA are its biodegradability, its biocompatibility, and the fact that PLGA has been approved by FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Numerous active pharmaceutical ingredients such as anticancer drugs, analgesics, antibiotics and macromolecular drugs such as proteins, peptides, genes, vaccines, antigens, human growth factors, vascular endothelial growth factors etc., are successfully incorporated into PLGA or PLGA based drug delivery devices. As a result, these systems in general can be used to provide targeted (cellular or tissue) delivery of drugs, which localized effect represents also an important benefit. They improve bioavailability, sustain release of drugs or solubilize drugs for systemic delivery. Drug delivery using PLGA or PLGA based polymers is an attractive area with various opportunities for further research and developmental work. In this review, physicochemical and biodegradable properties of PLGA and PLGA based drug delivery devices for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine will be presented.