Effects of Preparation Method and Evaluations on Structural Integrity in Model Antigen-Containing Biodegradable Microspheres for Vaccine Delivery

To demonstrate the effect of formulation conditions and evaluations of structural integrity from ovalbumin containing poly lactide glycolide copolymer (PLGA) microspheres for Vaccine delivery, OVA microspheres were prepared by a W/O/W multiple emulsion solvent extraction technique. Dichloromethan (DCM) and Ethyl acetate (EA) were applied as an organic phase and poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) as a secondary emulsion stabilizer. Microspheres were characterized for particle size, morphology (optical microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)). Protein denaturation was evaluated by size exclusion chromatography (SEC), SDS-PAGE and isoelectric focusing (IEF). Residual organic solvent was estimated by gas chromatography (GC) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Optical photomicrograph and SEM revealed that micro spheres were typically spherical but various morphologies were observed. Mean particle size $(d_{vs})$ of microspheres were in the range of $3{\sim}50{\mu}m$. Also, The protein stability was not affected by the fonnulation process and residual organic solvent was beyond the detection below 0.1ppm. These results demonstrated that micro spheres might be a good candidate for the parenteral vaccine delivery system.