Nanoprecipitation is a well-known process in which solid nanoparticles are formed by self-assembly following solvent displacement. In the last decade, microfluidic devices have been developed to better control this self-assembly process. This poster will cover the development of a microfluidic system for the formation of solid PLGA nanoparticles, as well as the characterization of their size and encapsulation efficiency using several model drugs. It was found that the system that was explored was capable of producing nanoparticles with similar properties to those prepared by conventional techniques. PLGA nanoparticles were formed in the sub-100 nm range and characterized by dynamic light scattering, microscopy, and UV-Vis techniques. In addition PLGA microparticles were prepared using a non-ultrasonic mixing technique in order to develop a less harsh process. It was found that microparticles of diameter less than 10 microns could be formed with control over the particle size based on solvent selection and stirring speed. The microparticles were characterized by TEM and confocal microscopy in order to evaluate their size, structure, and encapsulation efficiency.

Microfluidics and emulsion for sub-micron PLGA self-assembly

251st National Meeting (2016)

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