BIODEGRADABLE SYNTHETIC AND NATURAL POLYMERS USED IN DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS

Melike TUNCAY*, Sema ÇALIS**°

*Hacettepe University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, 06100 Sihhiye, Ankara, TURKEY. **Hacettepe University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, 06100 Sihhiye, Ankara, TURKEY.
°Corresponding Author

Summary :
In recent years the use of polymeric carriers in therapeutic drug delivery systems has gained widespread application due to their advantages. The drugs which are loaded in polymeric systems can be targeted to specific organs and provide controlled release. Targeting of drugs eliminates the metabolic transformation of drugs before reaching a specific site as well as decreasing the effective therapeutic dose. Biocompatibility and biodegradability are the most important formulation parameters of these polymeric systems. Among the polymeric microparticulate systems, microspheres are accepted as the most popular.
In this review, brief information is given on the general characteristics of the synthetic and natural matrix materials used in the preparation of the microparticulate delivery systems and samples are shown of synthetic and natural matrix materials in frequent use recently.
Lactide/glycolide copolymers, poly (orthoesters), polyanhydrides, and poly alkyl cyanoacrylates as synthetic matrix materials, albumin, starch, collagen, gelatin, alginate, and chitosan as natural matrix materials are described with their characteristics and references.

Key words:
Microspheres, Biodegradable polymers, Natural and synthetic, Polymers, Bioeraduble polymers, Polymeric carriers.