Kyung-Ho Roh, Macromolecular Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, 2300 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2136, Sridhar Valluri, Pharmaceutical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2300 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, and Joerg Lahann, University of Michigan, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, 3074 H.H. Dow Bldg., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2136.
Biodegradable biphasic nanocarriers were fabricated using combinations of poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly(glycolic acid) and their copolymers. Two jetting solutions comprising of different compositions were used in electrified co-jetting process with side-by-side dual capillary setup.[1] Use of volatile chloroform in a mixture with less volatile solvent such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF) was tried to controlled the final size and size distribution of the nanoparticles. The biphasic character of the resulting nanocarriers was confirmed by visualization of selectively incorporated fluorescent dyes under the confocal laser scanning microscopy. The different polymeric composition in each side renders different degradation kinetics in aqueous environment, which was monitored by observation of degraded morphology over time under scanning electron microscopy. Finally, two different model drugs were selectively incorporated in each side of the nanocarriers and the release kinetics of each drug were measured in-vitro. This unique biphasic architecture combined with multiple drug loadings and selective surface modification capability allows this nanocarrier to be used as multi-functional smart drug delivery system.
References [1] K. H. Roh, D. C. Martin, and J. Lahann, Biphasic Janus particles with nanoscale anisotropy, Nat. Mater. 4, 759-763 (2005).