Biodegradable polymer droplet for efficient drug delivery using flagellated bacteria

Abstract

This paper presents a biodegradable polymer droplet for efficient drug delivery using flagellated bacteria. The biodegradability and the localized delivery are the most important features for determining the efficiency of drug delivery. The proposed droplet is made of poly (DL-lactic-coglycolic acid) for the biodegradability. It is fabricated using a microfluidic device which has a Y-junction microchannel. The fabricated biodegradable droplet has diameter in the range between 20 ȝm and 30 ȝm. Then flagellated bacteria, Serratia marcescens, are attached to these droplets for a localized drug delivery. The Serratia marcescens has a chemotaxis to tumor cells, and thus can be used as an actuation source of selfseeking to the tumor site. This paper presents the proposed concept, droplet fabrication, bacteria attachment, and observed rotational motion of the drug delivery methodology. The experimentally achieved maximum angular velocity is 0.11 rad/sec.