Combining cryo-TEM and energy-filtered TEM for imaging organic core-shell nanoparticles and defining the polymer distribution

Structure of polymeric nanoparticles encapsulating a drug - pamoic acid ion pair by scanning transmission electron microscopy

Drug-delivery systems based on polymeric nanoparticles are useful for improving drug bioavailability and/or delivery of the active ingredient for example directly to the cancerous tumour. The physical and chemical characterization of a functionalized nanoparticle system is required to measure drug loading and dispersion but also to understand and model the rate and extent of drug release to help predict performance. Many techniques can be used, however, difficulties related to structure determination and identifying the precise location of the drug fraction make mathematical prediction complex and in many published examples the final conclusions are based on assumptions regarding an expected structure. Cryogenic scanning transmission electron microscopy imaging in combination with electron energy loss spectroscopy techniques are used here to address this issue and provide a multi-modal approach to the characterisation of a self-assembled polymeric nanoparticle system based upon a polylactic acid - polyethylene glycol (PLA-PEG) block copolymer containing a hydrophobic ion-pair between pamoic acid and an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). Results indicate a regular dispersion of spherical nanoparticles of 88 ± 9 nm diameter. The particles are shown to have a multi-layer structure consisting of a 25 nm radius hydrophobic core of PLA and pamoic acid-API material with additional enrichment of the pamoic acid-API material within the inner core (that can be off-centre), surrounded by a 9 nm dense PLA-PEG layer all with a low-density PEG surface coating of around 10 nm thickness. This structure suggests that release of the API can only occur by diffusion through or degradation of the dense, 9 nm thick PLA-PEG layer either of which is a process consistent with the previously reported steady release kinetics of the API and counter ion from these nanoparticle formulations. Establishing accurate measures of product structure enables a link to performance by providing appropriate physical parameters for future mathematical modelling of barriers controlling API release in these nanoparticle formulations.

The Nanostructure of Polymer-Active Principle Microparticles Produced by Supercritical CO2 Assisted Processing

Traditional and supercritical CO₂ assisted processes are frequently used to produce microparticles formed by a biopolymer containing an active principle to improve the bioavailability of the active principle. However, information about the internal organization of these microparticles is still scarce. In this work, a suspension of dextran + Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (model system) and a solution of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) + curcumin were used to produce spherical microparticles by supercritical CO₂ processing. Periodic dynamic light scattering measurements were used to analyze the evolution of the microparticles dissolution, size, and size distribution of the guest active principle in the polymeric matrix. It was found that curcumin was dispersed in the form of nanoparticles in the PVP microparticles, whose size largely depended on its relative concentration. These results were validated by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy of the PVP microparticles and curcumin nanoparticles, before and after the dissolution tests.

Synthesis and Characterization of a Core-Shell Copolymer with Different Glass Transition Temperatures

The aim of this study is to synthesize an organic core-shell co-polymer with a different glass transition temperature (Tg) between the core and the shell that can be used for several applications such as the selective debonding of coatings or the release of encapsulated materials. The co-polymer was synthesized using free radical polymerization and was characterized with respect to its morphology, composition and thermal behavior. The obtained results confirmed the successful synthesis of the co-polymer copolymer poly(methyl methacrylate)@poly(methacrylic acid-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate), PMMA@P(MAA-co-EGDMA), which can be used along with water-based solvents. Furthermore, the Tg of the polymer’s core PMMA was 104 °C, while the Tg of the shell P(MAA-co-EGDMA) was 228 °C, making it appropriate for a wide variety of applications. It is worth mentioning that by following this specific experimental procedure, methacrylic acid was copolymerized in water, as the shell of the copolymer, without forming a gel-like structure (hydrogel), as happens when a monomer is polymerized in aqueous media, such as in the case of super-absorbent polymers. Moreover, the addition and subsequent polymerization of the monomer methyl methacrylate (MAA) into the mixture of the already polymerized PMMA resulted in a material that was uniform in size, without any agglomerations or sediments.

Application of a polyelectrolyte complex based on biocompatible polysaccharides for colorectal cancer inhibition

Strategies for incorporating water-insoluble photosensitisers (PS) in drug delivery systems have been extensively studied. In this work, we evaluate the formation, characterisation, drug sorption studies, and cytotoxicity of chitosan (CHT)/chondroitin sulphate (CS) polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) coated with polystyrene-block-poly(acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA) nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with chloroaluminum phthalocyanine (AlClPc). The PECs were characterised by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetric (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The PS-b-PAA NPs on the PEC surface was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Additionally, optical images distinguished the PEC structures containing PS-b-PAA or PS-b-PAA/AlClPc from the unloaded PEC. Kinetic and equilibrium studies investigate the sorption capacity of the PEC/PS-b-PAA toward AlClPc. The encapsulation efficiency reached 95% at 190 μg mL^-1 AlClPc after only 15 min. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic fitted well to the experimental data. The PS-b-PAA NPs on the PEC surfaces increase the AlClPc bioavailability and the PEC structure stabilizes the PS-b-PAA/AlClPc nanostructures. The materials were cytocompatible upon healthy VERO (kidney epithelial cells), and cytotoxic against colorectal cancerous cells (HT-29 cells). For the first time, we associate PS-b-PAA/AlClPc with a hydrophilic and cytocompatible polysaccharide matrix. We suggest the use of these materials in strategies to treat cancer by using photodynamic therapy.