Transportation of poorly soluble therapeutic drugs throughout the body has been a continuous field of research with the hopes to discover new technology to improve drug encapsulation efficiency and the associated release rate. The long-range goal of this project is to engineer a lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticle (LPN) to create a drug delivery device that can be easily manipulated and fine-tuned. Delivery systems for these drug compounds are specific in order to obtain optimal encapsulation. The LPNs consist of a polymer core (which can also hold desired drug), surrounding lipid monolayer, and PEGylated exterior. Studying how various PEGylated chains effect the encapsulation, release rate, and particle size can divulge information to later develop high efficiency drug carriers. This project utilizes various PEGylated chains to test these parameters including, DSPE-PEG-COOH, Igepal CO-890, and Brij-59. If the DSPE-PEG-COOH PEGylated exterior is the ideal exterior coating, then it will produce the optimal release rate and drug encapsulation for the model drug. The DSPE-PEG-COOH consists of a phosphatidylcholine on one end which will allow it to attach to the lipid monolayer and affect release rate and encapsulation efficiency. The LPNs will be created by mixing a solution consisting of lipids (lecithin, mostly phosphatidylcholine) with a solution of the inner polymer (PLGA), vortexing, and allowing the solution to gently stir to allow for self-assembly of the LPNs. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) will be utilized to size and visualize the particles. A solvatochromic dye will serve as the model drug in conjunction with fluorescence spectroscopy to study the encapsulation ability of the LPNs as well as to test their release rates at various points throughout the study. The results gathered can be used to further study how the structure of the LPNs alters the release rate and related properties for future nanoparticles. <br/>

Synthesis of lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles: A drug delivery system

255th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.