Single-Step Microfluidic Synthesis of Transferrin-Conjugated Lipid Nanoparticles for siRNA Delivery

In this study, a single-step process based on microfluidic focusing (MF) was employed to synthesize transferrin-conjugated lipid nanoparticles (Tf-LNPs) and the method was compared with a multi-steps bulk mixing (BM) method. The results indicate that this single-step MF process enables rapid and efficient synthesis of Tf-LNPs, which were named Tf-LNPs-MF. Tf-LNPs-MF was shown to have a smaller size and more uniform structures compared to LNPs produced by multi-steps BM method (Tf-LNPs-BM). Furthermore, efficient cellular uptake of Tf-LNPs-MF in vitro as well as greater tumor inhibition in vivo proved that Tf-LNPs-MF had higher siRNA delivery efficiency in vitro and in vivo. Taken together, this single-step microfluidic synthesis significantly simplified the Tf-LNPs production and improved their drug delivery properties and may serve as a valuable tool for developing new cancer therapies. Graphical abstract

Source: Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine - October 9, 2016 Category: Nanotechnology Source Type: research