Microparticles produced from synthetic polymers have been widely used in the pharmaceutical field for encapsulation of drugs. These microparticles show several advantages such as drug protection, mucoadhesion, gastro-resistance, improved bioavailability and increased patient's compliance. In addition, it is possible to use lower amount of drug to achieve therapeutic efficiency with reduced local/systemic adverse side effects and low toxicity. Synthetic polymers used for the production of microparticles are classified as biodegradable or non-biodegradable, being the former more popular since these do not need to be removed after drug release. Production of polymeric microparticles can be used for encapsulation of hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs, by emulsification following solvent extraction/evaporation, coacervation, methods that are revised in this paper, including advantages, disadvantages and viability of each methodology. Selection of methodology and synthetic polymer depends of the therapeutic purpose, as well as simplicity, reproducibility and possibility to scale up.
Polymers; microparticles; controlled release; production processes
