Microfluidic-controlled manufacture of liposomes for the solubilisation of a poorly water soluble drug.
Besides their well-described use as delivery systems for water-soluble drugs, liposomes have the ability to act as a solubilizing agent for drugs with low aqueous solubility. However, a key limitation in exploiting liposome technology is the availability of scalable, low-cost production methods for the preparation of liposomes. Here we describe a new method, using microfluidics, to prepare liposomal solubilising systems which can incorporate low solubility drugs (in this case propofol). The setup, based on a chaotic advection micromixer, showed high drug loading (41 mol%) of propofol as well as the ability to manufacture vesicles with at prescribed sizes (between 50 and 450 nm) in a high-throughput setting. Our results demonstrate the ability of merging liposome manufacturing and drug encapsulation in a single process step, leading to an overall reduced process time. These studies emphasise the flexibility and ease of applying lab-on-a-chip microfluidics for the solubilisation of poorly water-soluble drugs.
Aston Pharmacy School, School of Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK.
Elisabeth
E
Kastner
Aston Pharmacy School, School of Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK.
Varun
V
Verma
Aston Pharmacy School, School of Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK.
Deborah
D
Lowry
Aston Pharmacy School, School of Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK. Electronic address: y.perrie@aston.ac.uk.
Yvonne
Y
Perrie
D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000737:chemistry*; D007700:Kinetics; D056656:Lab-On-A-Chip Devices; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation; D053758:Nanoparticles; D010316:Particle Size; D010713:Phosphatidylcholines / Q000737:chemistry*; D015742:Propofol / Q000737:chemistry*; D012995:Solubility; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes
D010713:Phosphatidylcholines; D012997:Solvents; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes; D002784:Cholesterol; D015742:Propofol
Bilayer loading; High throughput; Liposomes; Microfluidics; Poorly soluble drugs