Influence of PCL on the material properties of collagen based biocomposites and in vitro evaluation of drug release

Formulation of biodegradable collagen–poly-?-caprolactone (PCL) based biomaterials for the sustained release of insulin is the main objective of the present work. PCL has been employed to modulate the physico-chemical behavior of collagen to control the drug release. Designed formulations were employed to statistically optimize insulin release parameter profile at different collagen to PCL molar ratios. Circular dichroism, thermoporometry, FTIR, impedance and scanning electron microscopy techniques have been employed to investigate the effect of PCL on hydration dynamics of the collagen molecule, which in turn changes the dissolution parameters of the drug from the systems. Drug entrapment efficiency has been found to be maximum for collagen to PCL molar ratio of 1:2 (> 90%). In vitro dissolution test reveals that 99% of the drug was released from composite at collagen to PCL molar ratio of 1:3 and 1:4 within 2 h, which indicates that hydrophobicity of the matrix results in weak interaction between lipophilic drug and carrier materials. The least burst release was observed for collagen to PCL molar ratio at 1:2 as synergistic interactions between collagen and PCL was maximum at that particular polymer–polymer ratios. The drug release data indicates super case-II transport of drug (n > 1.0).