title: PLGA micro/nanosphere synthesis by droplet microfluidic solvent evaporation and extraction approaches.
abstract: In this paper, we present two approaches for the synthesis of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) micro/nanospheres using non-toxic organic solvents in droplet-based microfluidic platforms. Solvent evaporation and solvent extraction methods were employed to enable the controlled generation of monodisperse PLGA particles that range from 70 nanometres to 30 microns in diameter. Determination of particle size was carried out with dynamic light scattering (DLS) and image analysis to show less than 2% variation in particle size. Sizes of the PLGA microspheres were controlled by the PLGA concentration in solvent and by the relative flow rates of oil and aqueous phases in the system. A penetration imaging assay was performed to determine the depth of diffusion of a model drug molecule fluorescein, out of the PLGA nanoparticles into corneal tissue. With the ability to prepare high quality, monodisperse, biodegradable particles, our methods have great potential to benefit drug delivery applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California Irvine, 3120 Natural Sciences II, Irvine, CA 92697-3940, USA. lhung@uci.edu
authors.forename: Lung-Hsin
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: Shia-Yen
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Teh
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jester
authors.forename: Abraham P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D008863:Microspheres; D054118:Nanospheres / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction / Q000379:methods*; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D012997:Solvents; D000077182:Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid; D019344:Lactic Acid