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Production and characterization of low molecular weight heparin obtained by modified double emulsion method with solvent evaporation


Pharmacy & Pharmacology International Journal
Roberta Carolina Rangel de Oliveira, Tamara Gonçalves de Araújo

Abstract

The main anticoagulant agents currently used in the treatment of coagulation disorders are low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) and unfractionated heparin (UFH). LMWH is formed by smaller UFH chains obtained by multiple chemical or enzymatic depolymerization processes and has advantages over UFH in that it does not cause severe toxicity and has more predictable pharmacokinetic properties. The use of LMWH, even with its advantages, is still limited due to the need for daily subcutaneous injections because it is of animal origin and does not have a definite chemical composition. These factors motivated the researchers to explore new delivery systems of this medication for better therapeutic results. The objective of this study was to produce and characterize LMWH nanoparticles through the solvent-evaporated double emulsion method using poly lacticco-glycolicacid (PLGA) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), calculate encapsulation efficiency (EE) and evaluate stability for future in vitro and in vivo testing. The methodology used was effective and produced LMWH nanoparticles of medium diameter 224.8±0.85, zeta potential -17.27±1.10 and polydispersity index 0.07±0.05. Despite the hydrophilic characteristic of LMWH, the obtained EE was 66.5%, a very promising result that suggests the effectiveness of the nanoencapsulation method used resulting in an alternative for the development of new anticoagulant therapies.

Keywords

low molecular weight heparin, anticoagulants, nanoparticles

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