Phase behavior of ternary mannosylerythritol lipid/water/oil systems

Due to the great importance of new therapeutic routes for morphine in pain treatment, several investigations are under development. In this way, the design of a liquid system for the oral administration of morphine would be of great help, especially in patients with difficulties in swallowing (children and elderly people). The systems studied in this work are kollidon^® SR microparticles, a biodegradable polymer classically used as excipient in the design of solid dosage forms, as vehicles for morphine. A detailed investigation of the capabilities of the polymer particles to load this drug at their surface is described. Electrophoretic mobility and optical absorbance determinations were used with this aim. The main factors determining the drug incorporation, after incubation of the microparticles in the morphine solutions, were the adsorption time, the type of electrolyte and its concentration, and the drug concentration. The optimum loading conditions were used to perform morphine release evaluations, finding that the release profiles were biphasic since the drug adsorbed was slowly released during 24 h after an initial burst release phase.