Direct and controllable preparation of uniform PLGA particles with various shapes and surface morphologies

Publication date: 5 July 2016 Source:Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, Volume 500 Author(s): Qingze Fan, Feng Qi, Chunyu Miao, Hua Yue, Fangling Gong, Jie Wu, Guanghui Ma, Zhiguo Su Biodegradable polymeric particles have been widely used in the biomedical fields such as drug carriers, tissue engineering, and medical imaging. It has been recognized that the physical properties of particles, such as size and shape, have a profound influence on their functions. However, it is not easy to prepare non-spherical particles by the conventional emulsion-based method because the minimization of interfacial energy leads to the spontaneous formation of spherical emulsions and it is difficult to control the uniformity and size. In order to solve this problem, we developed a direct method to fabricate non-spherical polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) particles with uniform size. This method employed a common agent, phosphate buffer saline (PBS), as the deformation initiator and combined the premix membrane emulsification technique with the solvent evaporation method to prepare uniform non-spherical particles of various shapes with aspect ratios from 2 to 40 and various sizes ranging from 800nm to 60μm (long axis). We found that the external driving force of stirring and the interfacial tension of the droplet dictated by the constitution of PBS and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) have synergistic effects on the deformation. Through confocal laser ...
Source: Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research