Abstract
In recent years, different processing technologies have been engineered to fabricate capsules or particles with peculiar properties (e.g., swelling, pH-sensitive response) at the micro and sub-micrometric size scale, to be used as carriers for controlled drug and molecular release. Herein, the development of cellulose acetate (CA) micro-carriers with mono- (MC) or bi-phasic (BC) composition is proposed, fabricated via electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA)—an electro-dropping technology able to micro-size polymer solution by the application of high voltage electrostatic forces. Image analysis allows identification of the process parameters to optimize morphology, in terms of size distribution and shape. Meanwhile, an accurate rheological study has enabled investigating the interface between CA solutions with different viscosities to optimize BC systems. Release tests have confirmed that BC carriers can retain the drug more efficiently in acidic conditions, also providing a more gradual and sustained release until six days, with respect to MC carriers. Hence, all these results have proven that biphasic architecture significantly improves the capability of CA microcarriers to release ketoprofen lysinate, thus suggesting a new route to design core/shell systems for the retarded oral administration of anti-inflammatory drugs.
Highlights
The fabrication of innovative devices with peculiar structural properties is raising a lot of interest with regard to the controlled release of bioactive molecules
Several studies have been focused on the design of drug delivery systems to finely control release kinetics for a site-specific delivery, in order to reduce side effects and improve therapeutic efficacy and safety
It is noteworthy that no relevant modification of physical properties of cellulose acetate (CA) capsules was recognized after the process, as confirmed by thermal analyses (Figure 1C): weight loss and thermal flow with respect to the temperature were comparable with those from the net CA, as reported elsewhere [21]
Summary
The fabrication of innovative devices with peculiar structural properties is raising a lot of interest with regard to the controlled release of bioactive molecules. Micro-sized capsules have been used in cancer therapy as depots to encapsulate anti-cancer agents [1], or more recently, as micro-scaffolds loaded with multiple agents to stimulate specific signaling pathways and instruct cellular responses in simulated biological micro-environments [2] In all of these cases, an accurate design of polymer matrix properties is required to optimize the encapsulation of drugs or actives, to protect labile molecules from hazardous environmental conditions, and to define a tailored release profile as a function of the specific application. The effect of peculiar chemical and physical properties of carriers may be corroborated by the structural properties at the micro/sub-micrometric level, finely tuning the release profile by the control of the relative diffusion/degradation mechanisms [4,5]. In contrast with other atomization techniques (i.e., gas atomization [10], vacuum atomization [11], centrifugal atomization [12], rotating disk atomization [13], ultrasonic atomization [14]), EHDA has some relevant advantages, including relative ease of droplet generation, great control of droplet transport, ability to avoid coalescence of droplets due to an electric charge of the same polarity on the droplets, enhanced adhesion and deposition, and so on [15]
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