Monodisperse core-shell chitosan microcapsules for pH-responsive burst release of hydrophobic drugs

The design of pH-sensitive chitosan-based formulations for gastrointestinal delivery

“…Recently, an interfacial cross-linking reaction has been used to construct monodisperse core-shell chitosan microcapsules for acid-triggered burst release of hydrophobic drugs [27]. During the preparation, terephthalaldehyde molecules reacted with chitosan to form Schiff bases in the middle water phase; a cross-linked chitosan membrane formed at the interface between the inner oil phase and the middle water phase after the removal of inner oil resulting in the formation of microcapsules.…”

Microfluidic approach for encapsulation via double emulsions

“…(a) Confocal microscope images showing compartmental chitosan microparticles, each with an inner oil drop encapsulated with hydrophobic components for acid-triggered burst release [46]. (b,c) Confocal microscope images showing monodisperse liposomes [42] (b) and polymersomes [41 ] (c) for efficient encapsulation.…”

“…However, encapsulation of hydrophobic components that are water-insoluble has attracted increasing interest for drug delivery, since $40% of the drugs developed for cancer treatment are water-insoluble [44,45]. For encapsulating hydrophobic components, microparticles with oil drops as compartments can also be developed from microfluidic O/W/O double emulsions [36,46]. A typical example is the oil-containing chitosan microparticles shown in Figure 3a [46].…”

“…For encapsulating hydrophobic components, microparticles with oil drops as compartments can also be developed from microfluidic O/W/O double emulsions [36,46]. A typical example is the oil-containing chitosan microparticles shown in Figure 3a [46]. The inner oil drop, shielded by the chitosan hydrogel shell, enables efficient encapsulation of hydrophobic components for delivery and controlled release.…”

Controllable microfluidic strategies for fabricating microparticles using emulsions as templates

“…Generally, the size ranges, monodispersity, and throughput of the resultant microparticles depend on those of the emulsion templates (Jeong et al, 2012;Nisisako & Torii, 2008;Steinbacher et al, 2012). Because of the excellent droplet manipulation of microfluidics and the transparency of the microchannel materials, flexible synthesis strategies such as solidifications based on solvent evaporation and temperature-cooling (Sun, Shum, Holtze, & Weitz, 2010), and polymerizations triggered by UV-irradiation and chemicals Liu et al, 2011), can be applied to achieve fabrication of particles using emulsions as templates. Moreover, functional components such as drugs, quantum dots, and magnetic nanoparticles can be flexibly incorporated into the emulsion templates to further functionalize the resultant microparticles.…”