Synthesis, Self-Assembly, and Drug Delivery Characteristics of Poly(methyl caprolactone-co-caprolactone)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) Copolymers with Variable Compositions of Hydrophobic Blocks: Combining Chemistry and Microfluidic Processing for Polymeric Nanomedicines

NIR-Emitting Gold Nanoclusters Encapsulated in PS-b-PEG Polymer Micelles

Gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) are an emerging type of luminescent probe, featuring good biocompatibility, high photostability, and large Stoke shifts. Their lack of colloidal stability is, however, a drawback for many applications. Here, we report the stabilization of AuNCs emitting in the NIR by a thiol-terminated polystyrene chain (Mn = 5000 g mol-1). The optical properties of this nanocomposite remain invariant for 2 years in THF. To use the PS5k-AuNCs in an aqueous environment, these were encapsulated into polymer micelles using a polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene glycol) copolymer. The resulting hierarchical constructs, with diameters of ca. 125 to 215 nm, have promising properties for applications as luminescent probes such as contrast agents for biomedical imaging.

Enhancement of cellular uptake by increasing the number of encapsulated gold nanoparticles in polymeric micelles

We apply a combination of polycaprolactone (PCL)-thiol ligand functionalization with flow-controlled microfluidic block copolymer self-assembly to produce biocompatible gold nanoparticle (GNP)-loaded micellar polymer nanoparticles (GNP-PNPs) in which GNPs are encapsulated within PCL cores surrounded by an external layer of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). By varying both the relative amount of block copolymer and the microfluidic flow rate, a series of GNP-PNPs are produced in which the mean number of GNPs per PNP in the < 50-nm fraction (Zave,d< 50 nm) varies between 0.1 and 1.9 while the external PEG surface is constant. Zave,d< 50 nm values are determined by statistical analysis of TEM images and compared with the results of cell uptake experiments on MDA-MB-231 cancer cells. For Zave,d< 50 nm ≤ 1 (including a control sample of individual GNPs also with a PEG surface layer), cell uptake is relatively constant, but increases sharply for Zave,d< 50 nm > 1, with a factor of 7 enhancement as Zave,d< 50 nm increases from 1 to ∼2. Enabled by the shear processing control provided by the microfluidic chip, these results provide the first evidence that cellular uptake can be enhanced specifically by increasing the number of GNPs per vector, with other parameters, including polymeric material, internal structure, and external surface chemistry, held constant. They also demonstrate a versatile platform for packaging GNPs in biocompatible polymeric carriers with flow-controlled formulation optimization for various therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

Microfluidic Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery

Nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted tremendous interest in drug delivery in the past decades. Microfluidics offers a promising strategy for making NPs for drug delivery due to its capability in precisely controlling NP properties. The recent success of mRNA vaccines using microfluidics represents a big milestone for microfluidic NPs for pharmaceutical applications, and its rapid scaling up demonstrates the feasibility of using microfluidics for industrial-scale manufacturing. This article provides a critical review of recent progress in microfluidic NPs for drug delivery. First, the synthesis of organic NPs using microfluidics focusing on typical microfluidic methods and their applications in making popular and clinically relevant NPs, such as liposomes, lipid NPs, and polymer NPs, as well as their synthesis mechanisms are summarized. Then, the microfluidic synthesis of several representative inorganic NPs (e.g., silica, metal, metal oxide, and quantum dots), and hybrid NPs is discussed. Lastly, the applications of microfluidic NPs for various drug delivery applications are presented.

Microfluidic based nanoparticle synthesis and their potential applications

A lot of substantial innovation in advancement of microfluidic field in recent years to produce nanoparticle reveals a number of distinctive characteristics for instance compactness, controllability, fineness in process, and stability along with minimal reaction amount. Recently, a prompt development, as well as realization in production of nanoparticles in microfluidic environs having dimension of micro to nanometers and constituents extending from metals, semiconductors to polymers, has been made. Microfluidics technology integrates fluid mechanics for production of nanoparticles having exclusive with homogenous sizes, shapes, and morphology, which are utilized in several bioapplications such as biosciences, drug delivery, healthcare, including food engineering. Nanoparticles are usually well-known for having fine and rough morphology because of their small dimensions including exceptional physical, biological, chemical, and optical properties. Though the orthodox procedures need huge instruments, costly autoclaves, use extra power, extraordinary heat loss, as well as take surplus time for synthesis. Additionally, this is fascinating in order to systematize, assimilate, in addition, to reduce traditional tools onto one platform to produce micro and nanoparticles. The synthesis of nanoparticles by microfluidics permits fast handling besides better efficacy of method utilizing the smallest components for process. Herein, we will focus on synthesis of nanoparticles by means of microfluidic devices intended for different bioapplications. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Emerging applications for living crystallization-driven self-assembly

The use of crystallization as a tool to control the self-assembly of polymeric and molecular amphiphiles in solution is attracting growing attention for the creation of non-spherical nanoparticles and more complex, hierarchical assemblies. In particular, the seeded growth method termed living crystallization-driven self-assembly (CDSA) has been established as an ambient temperature and potentially scalable platform for the preparation of low dispersity samples of core-shell fiber-like or platelet micellar nanoparticles. Significantly, this method permits predictable control of size, and access to branched and segmented structures where functionality is spatially-defined. Living CDSA operates under kinetic control and shows many analogies with living chain-growth polymerizations of molecular organic monomers that afford well-defined covalent polymers of controlled length except that it covers a much longer length scale (ca. 20 nm to 10 μm). The method has been applied to a rapidly expanding range of crystallizable polymeric amphiphiles, which includes block copolymers and charge-capped homopolymers, to form assemblies with crystalline cores and solvated coronas. Living CDSA seeded growth methods have also been transposed to a wide variety of π-stacking and hydrogen-bonding molecular species that form supramolecular polymers in processes termed "living supramolecular polymerizations". In this article we outline the main features of the living CDSA method and then survey the promising emerging applications for the resulting nanoparticles in fields such as nanomedicine, colloid stabilization, catalysis, optoelectronics, information storage, and surface functionalization.

Polymer based nanoparticles for biomedical applications by microfluidic techniques: from design to biological evaluation

The development of microfluidic technologies represents a new strategy to produce and test drug delivery systems.

Controlled Microfluidic Synthesis of Biological Stimuli-Responsive Polymer Nanoparticles

Microfluidic flow-directed self-assembly of biological stimuli-responsive block copolymers is demonstrated with dual-location cleavable linkages at the junction between hydrophilic and hydrophobic blocks and on pendant group within the hydrophobic blocks. On-chip self-assembly within a two-phase microfluidic reactor forms various "DualM" polymer nanoparticles (PNPs), including cylinders and multicompartment vesicles, with sizes and morphologies that are tunable with manufacturing flow rate. Complex kinetically trapped intermediates between shear-dependent states provide the most detailed mechanism to date of microfluidic PNP formation in the presence of flow-variable high shear. Glutathione (GSH)-triggered changes in PNP size and internal structure depend strongly on the initial flow-directed size and internal structure. Upon incubation in GSH, flow-directed PNPs with smaller average sizes showed a faster hydrodynamic size increase (attributed to junction cleavage) and those with higher excess Gibbs free energy showed faster inner compartment growth (attributed to pendant cleavage). These results demonstrate that the combination of chemical control of the location of biologically responsive linkages with microfluidic shear processing offers promising routes for tunable "smart" polymeric nanomedicines.

Microfluidic encapsulation of SN-38 in block copolymer nanoparticles: effect of hydrophobic block composition on loading and release properties

A gas–liquid microfluidic reactor was used to prepare polymer nanoparticles (PNPs) containing the drug 7-ethyl-10-hydroxy camptothecin (SN-38) from a series of poly(methyl caprolactone-co-caprolactone)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (P(MCL-co-CL)-b-PEO) amphiphilic block copolymers with variable MCL content in the hydrophobic block. All three copolymers formed spheres with ∼20 nm core diameters by TEM, although some rigid rod-like aggregates were also formed by the PMCL-50 and PMCL-75 copolymers. SN-38 encapsulation efficiencies (EE = 2.7%–3.0%) and loading levels (DL = 2.0%–2.9%) were similar for the three copolymers. In vitro release kinetics became significantly slower as the MCL content increased, with release half times increasing monotonically from 3.4 to 6.2 h as the MCL content of the hydrophobic block increased from 50% to 100%. The ability to systematically tune release half times via controlled variation in the hydrophobic block composition, while maintaining constant PNP size and loading levels, represents an intriguing chemical handle for the optimization of SN-38 nanomedicines.

Microfluidic Manufacturing of SN-38-Loaded Polymer Nanoparticles with Shear Processing Control of Drug Delivery Properties

Two-phase gas-liquid microfluidic reactors provide shear processing control of SN-38-loaded polymer nanoparticles (SN-38-PNPs). We prepare SN-38-PNPs from the block copolymer poly(methyl caprolactone- co-caprolactone)- block-poly(ethylene oxides) (P(MCL- co-CL)- b-PEO) using bulk and microfluidic methods and at different drug-to-polymer loading ratios and on-chip flow rates. We show that, as the microfluidic flow rate ( Q) increases, encapsulation efficiency and drug loading increase and release half times increase. Slower SN-38 release is obtained at the highest Q value ( Q = 400 μL/min) than is achieved using a conventional bulk preparation method. For all SN-38-PNP formulations, we find a dominant population (by number) of nanosized particles (<50 nm) along with a small number of larger aggregates (>100 nm). As Q increases, the size of aggregates decreases through a minimum and then increases, attributed to a flow-variable competition of shear-induced particle breakup and shear-induced particle coalescence. IC₂₅ and IC₅₀ values of the various SN-38-PNPs against MCF-7 cells show strong flow rate dependencies that mirror trends in particle size. SN-38-PNPs manufactured on-chip at intermediate flow rates show both minimum particle sizes and maximum potencies with a significantly lower IC₂₅ value than the bulk-prepared sample. Compared to conventional bulk methods, microfluidic shear processing in two-phase reactors provides controlled manufacturing routes for optimizing and improving the properties of SN-38 nanomedicines.