Biodegradable Polymer Microparticles with Tunable Shapes and Surface Textures for Enhancement of Dendritic Cell Maturation

Abstract

In this report, we present a facile approach to produce biodegradable polymeric microparticles with uniform sizes and controllable morphologies by blending hydrophobic poly­(d, l-lactic-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and amphiphilic poly­(d, l-lactic acid)-b-poly­(ethylene glycol) (PLA-b-PEG) in a microfluidic chip. Microparticles with tentacular, hollow hemispherical, and Janus structures were obtained after complete evaporation of the organic solvent by manipulating the interfacial behavior of emulsion droplets and the phase separation behavior inside the droplets. The number and length of the tentacles on the surface of tentacular microparticles could be tailored by varying the initial concentration and blending ratios of the polymers. The organic solvent played an important role in controlling the morphologies of microparticles. For example, blending PLA16k-b-PEG5k with PLGA100k in dichloromethane resulted in tentacular microparticles, whereas hollow hemispherical microparticles were obtained in trichloromethane. Moreover, these microparticles with controllable shapes and surface textures have significant influence on the immune response of dendritic cells (DCs), showing a morphology-dependent enhancement of DC maturation.

Anisotropic Microparticles from Microfluidics

“…In a separate work of Hussain and colleagues, the influence of surface textures and particle geometries on the immune effects of dendritic cell was investigated by culturing the cells with the presence of distinct kinds of anisotropic particles from microfluidics including smooth particles, tentacular particles with several tentacles, golf-like particles, bowl-like particles, particles with different roughness. 168 Results showed that particles in textured surfaces and non-spherical geometries had better amelioration on the activation of the dendritic cell because they could provide more contact points to dendritic cells.…”

Synthetic Strategies for Polymer Particles with Surface Concavities

“…A wide variety of post‐treatment techniques, including solvent‐absorbing/releasing, [ 109,110 ] general solvent evaporation, [ 111–121 ] microfluidic emulsification/emulsion–solvent evaporation, [ 122–128 ] electrospraying/solvent evaporation, [ 129–137 ] electrospinning/solvent evaporation, [ 138,139 ] templating method, [ 140–166 ] treatment on core–shell particles [ 167–173 ] and self‐assembly of polymer [ 174–176 ] have been developed for dimpled polymer particles syntheses.…”

“…[105] Copyright 2017, American Chemical Society. microfluidic emulsification/emulsion-solvent evaporation, [122][123][124][125][126][127][128] electrospraying/solvent evaporation, [129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137] electrospinning/solvent evaporation, [138,139] templating method, treatment on core-shell particles [167][168][169][170][171][172][173] and self-assembly of polymer [174][175][176] have been developed for dimpled polymer particles syntheses.…”

Monodispersed polymer particles with tunable surface structures: Droplet microfluidic‐assisted fabrication and biomedical applications

“…The pore size and diameters of particles were tuned by the polymer concentration and SDS concentration 25 . Recently, particles with tunable surface structures of biocompatible polymers were prepared by employing this method 12 . Hussain et al showed that poly(lactic‐ co ‐glycolic acid) (PLGA) particles with wrinkled and tentacle surfaces were prepared by adding PLGA‐ b ‐polyethylene glycol (PLGA‐ b ‐PEG).…”

“…Polymer particles with rough surfaces have great potential in surface‐sensitive biomedical applications, 9c,10 such as cell attachment, cell proliferation, biomolecular sensing, bioimaging, and biolabeling. In particular, some particles can serve as bionic microorganisms and pollen 11 and have been used as bionic pathogens and potential carriers of hapten for immunity 12 …”