the comparison between degradation of polymeric in-situ forming implants in in-vitro and in-vivo conditions

Polymer-based drug delivery systems have flawlessly performed as a promising alternative to traditional medications. however, several parameters such as polymer molecular weight, polymer end-groups, monomer composition, and degradation properties determine the carrier behavior in these systems. this study investigated the plga degradation and mw variations in in-vitro and in-vivo experiments. to attain the results, we analyzed two sets of samples, one group was injected into acetate buffer (ph=6.8, t=37 ºc), and the other one was injected subcutaneously into rabbits. then, we evaluated the molecular weight of the polymeric implant via gpc. the outcomes illustrated that the reduction in mw of plga was similar up to 6 days. after that, the in-vitro degradation accelerated due to the autocatalytic effect and an increase in hydrolysis. to sum up, the in-vitro degradation rate was faster than in-vivo.