A novel composite material made from poly(propylene fumarate) (PPF) and titania nanofibers has been synthesized for potential use as an orthopaedic biomaterial with TiO2 nanofibers chemically linked to the PPF matrix as a reinforcing phase to enhance its mechanical properties.
6″-O-Acetylginsenoside
Rb1 (ac-Rb1) isolated from North American ginseng
was encapsulated within
biodegradable poly(dl-lactide-co-glycolide)
(PLGA) microspheres. Both a conventional double emulsion and a microfluidic
technique were examined for microsphere formation. The ac-Rb1 encapsulation within PLGA microspheres was characterized by various
physicochemical techniques including FTIR, DSC, and XRD. The experimental
data showed that the PLGA microspheres produced from the microfluidic
technique were uniform with tunable mean diameters from 7 to 59 μm
and standard deviations less than 10%. The size was independent of
the capillary number and could be tuned by altering the continuous
and disperse phase flow rate ratios. Release profiles from the uniform
microspheres were investigated, showing controlled release of ac-Rb1 which followed a Fickian diffusion while retaining potency
toward immunosuppressive activity using macrophages in vitro. This
study shows that ac-Rb1 encapsulated PLGA microspheres
obtained using the microfluidic approach are promising for the development
of next-generation biomedical agents.
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