Fabrication of Core-Shell PLGA-Chitosan Microparticles Using Electrospinning: Effects of Polymer Concentration

Abstract

This investigation aims to fabricate the core-shell microparticles composed of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) and chitosan (PLGA-CS MPs) using electrospinning. The challenge of using electrospinning is that it has many parameters which change product outcome if any single parameter is changed. However, the advantage of this system is that we can fabricate either micro/nanofibers or micro/nanoparticles. To learn about the effect of liquid concentration, the electrospinning parameters (voltage, needle sizes, distance from needle to collector, and ejection speed) were fixed while the concentration of PLGA or chitosan was varied. The results showed that PLGA microparticles can be fabricated successfully when the concentration of PLGA is smaller than 10 wt%. Presence of the chitosan shell was confirmed by zeta potential measurements, FT-IR, optical observation, and fluorescence observation. Thickness of the chitosan shell can be controlled by changing the concentration of chitosan and measured by fluorescamine labeling method. Moreover, SEM observation showed that concentration of chitosan affected the size of PLGA-CS microparticles. The MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay test showed that PLGA-CS microparticles possess excellent biocompatibility.

Research progress, models and simulation of electrospinning technology: a review

“…It has been found that if there are many kinds of polymers in the solution, even if the viscosity is the same, different polymer concentration ratio will change the diameter of nanofibers, which is caused by the interaction between polymers [ 113 ]. Some researchers have also changed the solution concentration and prepared microspheres instead of nanofibers by electrospinning, which provides a new idea [ 114 ].

Figure 6 SEM images of electrospun polyimide nanofibers with different concentrations a 10%, b 15% c 20% d 25% [ 105 ].

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Investigation of Chitosan Nanoparticles Loaded with Protocatechuic Acid (PCA) for the Resistance of Pyricularia oryzae Fungus against Rice Blast

“…Chitosan has been used as a raw material for the preparation of nanoparticles in recent years, because of their superior properties in nanoscale. With many features such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, membrane adhesion and non-toxicity, chitosan have become the material for many biological pharmacological applications [17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28]. In agriculture, chitosan nanoparticles (CSNP) are used as growth promoters for plants [28,29].…”