Synthesis of polymeric carriers based on microfluidic devices for anti-cancer drug delivery systems

Introduction Nowadays, the main challenge of researchers in the field of cancer therapy is minimizing the chemotherapy side effects of drugs on uninvolved tissues. One of the effective approaches to enhance and modify the drugs performance is utilizing some methods which generate drug-loaded particles along with controlled drug release. Objectives 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is an anticancer medicine which specialized for treatment of colorectal malign diseases. In this project for increasing the drug efficiency, it was encapsulated into the poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) as a polymeric carrier via microfluidic method that causes the generation of monodispersed and fine particles. Methods Microfluidic flow-focusing systems due to their low material consuming because of their miniaturized dimensions, production time decrease, and controlled properties in biochemical environments have been investigated. The effective parameters influencing on diameter size of mentioned drug carriers are including type of pattern, flow rates of micro-syringe pumps, concentration of polymer and drug solutions, and concentration of surfactant [poly (vinyl alcohol)] as a stabilizer of generated nanoparticles. Results The dynamic light scattering (DLS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of polymeric particles’ characterization result with diameter size of 101±19 nm, the optimum conditions in order of mentioned above were as follows: fork shape, 5 mL/h for side channels and 1.5 mL/h for middle channel in fork section, 0.2 %(w/v), 0.015 %(w/v) and 0.15 %(w/v). The in-vitro drug release results explained the modified Nanoparticles containing 5-FU prepared by MF have encapsulation efficiency (EE %) about 97±1.7% in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at pH 7.4. Furthermore, cytotoxicity and apoptosis of fabricated nanocarriers was studied on two colon cell lines which names were Caco2 and SW-480 through MTT assay and also Flow cytometry. ConclusionThe outcomes showed targeted release of anticancer drug from polymeric nanoparticles after 48-72 hours instead of having burst release in 2 hours. This observation could be related to the small size and large specific surface area of the nano drug carriers produced via microfluidic device.

کلیدواژه ها:

Microfluidic method ، Nanocarriers ، 5-Fu ، PLGA ، Flow focusing ، Optimization ، MTT assay ، Flow cytometry ، Targeted release