Biodegradable polymeric microspheres can be used to deliver drugs through controlled rate and targeted processes. The drug is released from the particles by drug leaching or degradation of the polymeric matrix. Crystallinity can play a very important role in the degradation of polymeric matrixes; it can affect the drug-release rate, especially in chemoembolization. Most commercial embolic agents have a low degree of crystallinity, and the correlation between the drug-delivery rate and the degree of crystallinity is not fully understood. This study presents the appropriated synthesis conditions for the preparation of highly crystalline poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly(vinyl acetate) microspheres and physicochemical characterizations by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and cross-polarization/magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance.

The results of the histopathological analyses after the implantation of highly crystalline PVA microspheres in subcutaneous tissues of Wistar rats are here in reported. Three different groups of PVA microparticles were systematically studied: highly crystalline, amorphous, and commercial ones. In addition to these experiments, complementary analyses of architectural complexity were performed using fractal dimension (FD), and Shannon's entropy (SE) concepts. The highly crystalline microspheres induced inflammatory reactions similar to the ones observed for the commercial ones, while the inflammatory reactions caused by the amorphous ones were less intense. Statistical analyses of the subcutaneous tissues of Wistar rats implanted with the highly crystalline microspheres resulted in FD and SE values significantly higher than the statistical parameters observed for the amorphous ones. The FD and SE parameters obtained for the subcutaneous tissues of Wistar rats implanted with crystalline and commercial microparticles were statistically similar. Briefly, the results indicated that the new highly crystalline microspheres had biocompatible behavior comparable to the commercial ones. In addition, statistical tools such as FD and SE analyses when combined with histopathological analyses can be useful tools to investigate the architectural complexity tissues caused by complex inflammatory reactions.

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