Development and Characterization of Sodium Hyaluronate Microparticle-Based Sustained Release Formulation of Recombinant Human Growth Hormone Prepared by Spray-Drying

The purpose of this study was to develop and characterize a sodium hyaluronate microparticle-based sustained release formulation of recombinant human growth hormone (SR-rhGH) prepared by spray-drying. Compared to freeze-drying, spray-dried SR-rhGH showed not only prolonged release profiles but also better particle property and injectability. The results of size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography showed that no aggregate was detected, and dimer was just about 2% and also did not increase with increase of inlet temperature up to 150°C. Meanwhile, the results of reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography revealed that related proteins increased slightly from 4.6% at 100°C to 6.3% at 150°C. Thermal mapping test proved that product temperature did not become high to cause protein degradation during spray-drying because thermal energy was used for the evaporation of surface moisture of droplets. The structural characterization by peptide mapping, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and circular dichroism revealed that the primary, secondary, and tertiary structures of rhGH in SR-rhGH were highly comparable to those of reference somatropin materials. The biological characterization by rat weight gain and cell proliferation assays provided that bioactivity of SR-rhGH was equivalent to that of native hGH. These data establish that spray-dried SR-rhGH is highly stable by preserving intact rhGH and hyaluronate microparticle-based formulation by spray-drying can be an alternative delivery system for proteins.