Analytical and numerical study of diffusion-controlled drug release from composite spherical matrices

We investigate, both analytically and numerically, diffusion-controlled drug release from composite spherical formulations consisting of an inner core and an outer shell of different drug diffusion coefficients. Theoretically derived analytical results are based on the exact solution of Fick's second law of diffusion for a composite sphere, while numerical data are obtained using Monte Carlo simulations. In both cases, and for the range of matrix parameter values considered in this work, fractional drug release profiles are described accurately by a stretched exponential function. The release kinetics obtained is quantified through a detailed investigation of the dependence of the two stretched exponential release parameters on the device characteristics, namely the geometrical radii of the inner core and outer shell and the corresponding drug diffusion coefficients. Similar behaviors are revealed by both the theoretical results and the numerical simulations, and approximate analytical expressions are presented for the dependencies. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.