A Microfluidic Chip Using Phenol Formaldehyde Resin for Uniform-Sized Polycaprolactone and Chitosan Microparticle Generation

Abstract

This study develops a new solvent-compatible microfluidic chip based on phenol formaldehyde resin (PFR). In addition to its solvent-resistant characteristics, this microfluidic platform also features easy fabrication, organization, decomposition for cleaning, and reusability compared with conventional chips. Both solvent-dependent (e.g., polycaprolactone) and nonsolvent-dependent (e.g., chitosan) microparticles were successfully prepared. The size of emulsion droplets could be easily adjusted by tuning the flow rates of the dispersed/continuous phases. After evaporation, polycaprolactone microparticles ranging from 29.3 to 62.7 μm and chitosan microparticles ranging from 215.5 to 566.3 μm were obtained with a 10% relative standard deviation in size. The OPEN ACCESSMolecules 2013, 18 6522 proposed PFR microfluidic platform has the advantages of active control of the particle size with a narrow size distribution as well as a simple and low cost process with a high throughput.

Synthesis of Magnetite Nanoparticles through a Lab-On-Chip Device

“…The LoC device was constructed using a CO 2 laser machine (LaserPro Venus, GCC, New Taipei, Taiwan) on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) substrate, according to previous studies [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. The LoC device consists of three layers of the same size (i.e., length × width × depth = 86 mm × 44 mm × 1 mm) ( Figure 1 ).…”

Exendin-4-Loaded PLGA Microspheres Relieve Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury and Neurologic Deficits through Long-Lasting Bioactivity-Mediated Phosphorylated Akt/eNOS Signaling in Rats

“…Synthesis of PLGA Microspheres PLGA (vehicle) or PLGA plus Ex-4 (PEx-4) microspheres were prepared using microfluidics technology ( Figure 1A) 22 and details of the techniques are described in Supplementary Methods. We prepared some PLGA microspheres containing lipophilic tracer Dil (0.1%w/v, Invitrogen, Grand Island, NY, USA) for evaluation of biodegradation of particles in the brain microcirculation by a Leica DM LFSA microscope with Leica Fluorescence Illuminator LRF4/22 (Leica Microsystems, Wetzlar, Germany).…”

“…Studies show that synthetic biodegradable polyesters such as poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) can be used to increase the bioactivity of administered drugs. 22 To overcome the short half-life and limited efficacy of Ex-4, we used a solvent-compatible microfluidic chip based on phenol formaldehyde resin to prepare Ex-4/PLGA (PEx-4) microspheres. We explored whether PEx-4 exerts more effective and long-lasting neurovascular protection than Ex-4 following carotid artery occlusion (CAO), which manifested as increased cerebral blood flow, improvements in neurologic and cognitive deficits, and decreased edema and oxidative injury through p-Akt/p-eNOS signaling.…”

Droplet movement control using fuzzy logic controller and image processing along with pin valves inside microfluidic device

“…1–5 Droplet microfluidics is also widely applied in enzyme kinetics, polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based analyses, functional component encapsulation, crystallization studies of protein, and cell cultures as well as molecule and polymeric particle synthesis. 6–12 Besides, its applications include adequate control of small volumes of substance, reducing quantities of reagents inside samplings, reduced analysis time, improved sensitivity, decreased detection limits, better screening with high throughput, and increased operational flexibility. These aforementioned recompenses are the fundamental properties of droplet-based microfluidic techniques which are highly integrated with innumerable fields.…”