Abstract
Microfluidic technique has emerged as a promising tool for the production of stable and monodispersed nanoparticles (NPs). In particular, this work focuses on liposome production by microfluidics and on factors involved in determining liposome characteristics. Traditional fabrication techniques for microfluidic devices suffer from several disadvantages, such as multistep processing and expensive facilities. Three-dimensional printing (3DP) has been revolutionary for microfluidic device production, boasting facile and low-cost fabrication. In this study, microfluidic devices with innovative micromixing patterns were developed using fused deposition modelling (FDM) and liquid crystal display (LCD) printers. To date, this work is the first to study liposome production using LCD-printed microfluidic devices. The current study deals with 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) liposomes with cholesterol (2:1) prepared using commercial and 3D-printed microfluidic devices. We evaluated the effect of microfluidic parameters, chip manufacturing, material, and channel design on liposomal formulation by analysing the size, PDI, and ζ-potential. Curcumin exhibits potent anticancer activity and it has been reported that curcumin-loaded liposomes formulated by microfluidics show enhanced encapsulation efficiency when compared with other reported systems. In this work, curcumal liposomes were produced using the developed microfluidic devices and particle sizing, ζ-potential, encapsulation efficiency, and in vitro release studies were performed at 37 °C.
Highlights
Over the past two decades, nanotechnologies have progressed steadily, resulting in structures, devices, and systems with innovative properties and functions
Step 3: processing the standard tessellation language (STL) file with the software of the printer to convert the 3D files into models (e.g., Ultimaker Cura for fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printers, Z-SUITE for liquid crystal display (LCD) 3D printers)
In this work, manufactured 3D-printed microfluidic devices were evaluated, and the developed chips resulted in effective production of lipid NPs
Summary
Over the past two decades, nanotechnologies have progressed steadily, resulting in structures, devices, and systems with innovative properties and functions. Several promising small molecule drugs and genes with issues of stability, solubility, and nonspecific toxicity can be delivered using nanocarriers such as micelles, polymeric or liposomal formulations, and nanoemulsions [3,4]. Among the various lipid-based formulations, liposomes have been extensively studied due to their full biocompatibility, ability to transport and protect encapsulated substances, improve their solubility, and provide a controlled release [6]. Encapsulated drugs are more bioavailable and are protected from premature degradation and nonspecific side effects, their toxicity is lower [7]. Thanks to these advantages, liposomes are promising systems for drug delivery applications
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