Miniaturised preparation of polymeric nanoparticles using droplet manipulation on open surfaces
- Author(s): Alsaeed M. Abualsayed 1 ; Sara A. Abouelmagd 2 ; Mohamed Abdelgawad 1, 3
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View affiliations
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Affiliations:
1:
Department of Mechanical Engineering , Assiut University , Assiut 71516 , Egypt ;
2: Department of Pharmaceutics , Assiut University , Assiut 71526 , Egypt ;
3: Department of Mechanical Engineering , American University of Sharjah , Sharjah , United Arab Emirates
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Affiliations:
1:
Department of Mechanical Engineering , Assiut University , Assiut 71516 , Egypt ;
- Source:
Volume 14, Issue 13,
20
November
2019,
p.
1312 – 1316
DOI: 10.1049/mnl.2019.0421 , Online ISSN 1750-0443
A digital microfluidics platform for the preparation of poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) was developed. Droplets of PLGA in dimethylformamide were merged with droplets of deionised water by electrical actuation on a digital microfluidics device to form PLGA NPs through nanoprecipitation. The developed platform is automated and allows for the preparation of polymeric NPs with small size and high uniformity. Using the platform, the authors were able to prepare monodisperse PLGA NPs as small as 115 nm with a polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.14 which can be challenging with conventional preparation techniques on the macroscale. Size of the prepared NPs can be tuned through proper choice of the volume ratio between the two merged droplets which controls the induced internal convection flow after merging. Concentration of PLGA in the dimethylformamide droplet also had an effect on the size and polydispersity of the formed NPs. These results prove the potential use of digital microfluidics for testing combinatorial synthesis of different polymeric NPs for various applications. This approach allows robust and automated screening of NP preparations using only few microlitres of the reagents used, thus conserving precious and costly NP components and loaded therapeutic agents.
Inspec keywords: particle size; polymer blends; nanofabrication; drops; microfluidics; nanoparticles; biomedical materials; precipitation (physical chemistry); nanomedicine
Other keywords: digital microfluidics platform; induced internal convection flow; volume ratio; automated screening; poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid nanoparticles; merged droplets; conventional preparation techniques; nanoprecipitation; miniaturised preparation; dimethylformamide droplet; electrical actuation; deionised water; droplet manipulation; polymeric nanoparticles; polydispersity index; monodisperse PLGA NPs; polymeric NPs; loaded therapeutic agents; open surfaces; digital microfluidics device
Subjects: Structure of polymers, elastomers, and plastics; Structure of solid clusters, nanoparticles, nanotubes and nanostructured materials; Preparation of polymers and plastics; Low-dimensional structures: growth, structure and nonelectronic properties; Biomedical materials; Nanotechnology applications in biomedicine
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