Investigation on the ion pair amphiphiles and their in vitro release of amantadine drug based on PLGA–PEG–PLGA gel

The amantadine drug and oleic acid surfactant are used to form amantadine-based ion pair amphiphiles based on proton transfer reaction between the drug and the surfactant molecules. The ion pair amphiphiles are characterized by 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Self-assembly properties of amantadine-based ion pair amphiphiles are studied by surface tension determination, transmission electron microscopy, zeta potential, and dynamic light scattering. The aggregation behavior studies indicate that the as-prepared ion pair amphiphiles can self-assemble into vesicles with the size of 200–300 nm in aqueous solution. The drug release results show that the amantadine release rate could be well controlled by incorporating the amantadine-based ion pair vesicles in poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid)-poly (ethylene glycol)-poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA–PEG–PLGA) copolymer hydrogel. The drug release from the AT–OA vesicle-loaded PLGA–PEG–PLGA hydrogel is significantly inhibited in comparison with the AT-loaded PLGA–PEG–PLGA hydrogel. The present work thus demonstrates that the vesicle-loaded hydrogel is a good candidate for the drug delivery system with long-term controlled drug release behavior.