The importance of microfluidics for the preparation of nanoparticles as advanced drug delivery systems

Abstract

Nanoparticles are anticipated to overcome persistent challenges in efficient drug delivery, but the limitations associated with conventional methods of preparation are resulting in slow translation from research to clinical applications. Due to their enormous potential, microfluidic technologies have emerged as an advanced approach for the development of drug delivery systems with well-defined physicochemical characteristics and in a reproducible manner. Areas covered: This review provides an overview of microfluidic devices and materials used for their manufacturing, together with the flow patterns and regimes commonly used for nanoparticle preparation. Additionally, the different geometries used in droplet microfluidics are reviewed, with particular attention to the co-flow geometry used for the production of nanoparticles. Finally, this review summarizes the main and most recent nanoparticulate systems prepared using microfluidics, including drug nanosuspensions, polymeric, lipid, structured, and theranostic nanoparticles. Expert opinion: The production of nanoparticles at industrial scale is still a challenge, but the microfluidic technologies bring exciting opportunities to develop drug delivery systems that can be engineered in an easy, cost-effective and reproducible manner. As a highly interdisciplinary research field, more efforts and general acceptance are needed to allow for the translation of nanoparticulate drug delivery systems from academic research to the clinical practice.

DNA Surface Technology: From Gene Sensors to Integrated Systems for Life and Materials Sciences

“…Numerous current works regarding the machine-assisted production and analysis of small-molecule compounds, [70] DNAm olecules, [71] colloidal nanoparticles, [72] and technical platforms for handling and analysis of DNA nanostructures [73] and DNAs urfaces [23,74] indicate that the development of integrated systems involves lab-on-a-chip devices and robotics along with in-line analytics and data acquisition. Numerous current works regarding the machine-assisted production and analysis of small-molecule compounds, [70] DNAm olecules, [71] colloidal nanoparticles, [72] and technical platforms for handling and analysis of DNA nanostructures [73] and DNAs urfaces [23,74] indicate that the development of integrated systems involves lab-on-a-chip devices and robotics along with in-line analytics and data acquisition.…”

Microfluidic Generation of Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications

“…Alongside the continuous flow, segmented flow microfluidic system was also presented to synthesize NPs. Various geometries of microfluidic devices (e.g., T‐junction, co‐flow, and flow‐focusing, as shown in Figure b) were designed to generate segmented flows, which include a liquid–liquid interfacial layer for droplets and a gas–liquid interfacial layer for bubbles (Figure c) . In a liquid–liquid segmented flow, the droplets breakup is resulted from the instability of dispersed phase, and presented as water‐in‐oil or oil‐in‐water emulsions.…”

“…Various geometries of microfluidic devices (e.g., T-junction, co-flow, and flow-focusing, as shown in Figure 1b) were designed to generate segmented flows, which include a liquid-liquid interfacial layer for droplets and a gas-liquid interfacial layer for bubbles ( Figure 1c). [53,78,[108][109][110] In a liquid-liquid segmented flow, the droplets breakup is resulted from the instability of dispersed phase, and presented as water-in-oil or oil-in-water emulsions. Many parameters can regulate the droplets formation, such as microchip construction, solution viscosity and flow rate, which in turn decide the size and structure of the resultant NPs.…”

Recent Developments in Microfluidic Technologies for Central Nervous System Targeted Studies

“…Microfluidics is an intersectional field that deals with systems that process or manipulate nanolitre amounts of fluids, using channels ranging in size from tens to hundreds of micrometres [8]. Advances in microfluidic technology have led to the generation of devices (so-called organs-on-a-chip) that can be standardized at various scales and flow regimes, allowing the simulation of BBB in vivo physiology through reconstitution of its multicellular architecture and physicochemical microenvironment [7,9,10].…”