Abstract
In the field of nanomedicine, the characterization of functionalized drug delivery systems, introduced on market as efficacious and selective therapeutics, represents a pivotal aspect of great importance. In particular, the morphology of polymeric nanoparticles, the most studied nanocarriers, is frequently assessed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Despite of TEM high resolution and versatility, this technology is frequently hampered by both the complicated procedure for sample preparation and the operative condition of analysis. Considering the scanning probe microscopies, atomic force microscopy (AFM) represents an extraordinary tool for the detailed characterization of submicron-size structure as the surface functionalization at the atomic scale. In this paper we discussed the advantage and limits of these microscopies applied to the characterization of PLGA nanoparticles functionalized with three different kinds of ligands (carbohydrate ligand, an antibody and quantum dots crystals) intentionally designed, created and tailored with specific physico-chemical properties to meet the needs of specific applications (targeting or imaging).
Highlights
In the pharmaceutical field, nanocarriers are designed to solve several limitations linked to the conventional forms of drug administration such the non-specific biodistribution of the drug, the lack of targeting towards specific cells or tissues, poor water solubility, low bioavailability, high toxicity and low therapeutic indices [1]
The amplitude of forces involved and the imaging mode to be adopted for the analysis should be appropriately set up on the nature of the samples [8]. Starting from these basis, this paper aims to define the preparative procedures of sample and the applicability of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques towards the evaluation of the surface details with sub-nanometer resolution in NPs modified by different kinds of ligands
The hydrodynamic diameters (Z-average) of the non-engineered PLGA502H NPs measured by Photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) are around 170 nm and the size distributions are relatively narrow Table 1
Summary
Nanocarriers are designed to solve several limitations linked to the conventional forms of drug administration such the non-specific biodistribution of the drug, the lack of targeting towards specific cells or tissues, poor water solubility, low bioavailability, high toxicity and low therapeutic indices [1]. Polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) have been proposed both to stabilize and modulate the release of wide classes of drug (antibiotics, antitumorals, antifungines, vaccines etc) and, taking advantage of the formulative versatility of the carriers, to introduce new functions. Received May 08, 2014; Accepted June 28, 2014; Published June 30, 2014. J Phys Chem Biophys ISSN: 2161-0398 JPCB, an open access journal Ζ-pot is accurately measured if the formulation satisfy several criteria such as its monodispersivity, low salt concentrations (conductivity
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
