Microfluidic Synthesis of Vinblastine-Loaded Multifunctional Particles for Magnetically Responsive Controlled Drug Release

Abstract

Vinblastine (VBL) is a major chemotherapeutic drug; however, in some cases, it may cause severe side effects in patients with cancer. Designing a novel VBL pharmaceutical formulation is a crucial and emerging concern among researchers for reducing the use of VBL. This study developed a stimuli-responsive controlled VBL drug release system from magnetically sensitive chitosan capsules. A magnetically responsive controlled drug release system was designed by embedding superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles (NPs) in a chitosan matrix and an external magnet. In addition, droplet microfluidics, which is a novel technique for producing polymer spheres, was used for manufacturing monodispersed chitosan microparticles. The prepared VBL and SPIO NPs-loaded chitosan microparticles were characterized and analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, a superconducting quantum interference device, and a biocompatibility test. The drug encapsulation efficiency was 67%–69%. The in vitro drug release test indicated that the VBL could be 100% released from chitosan composite particles in 80–130 min under magnetic stimulation. The pulsatile magnetically triggered tests showed individual and distinctive controlled release patterns. Thus, the timing and dose of VBL release was controllable by an external magnet. The results presume that using a magnetically responsive controlled drug release system offers a valuable opportunity for VBL drug delivery, where the delivery system is an active participant, rather than a passive vehicle, in the optimization of cancer treatment. The proposed actively targeted magnetic drug delivery system offers many advantages over conventional drug delivery systems by improving the precision and timing of drug release, easy operation, and higher compliance for pharmaceutical applications.

PLGA-based biodegradable microspheres in drug delivery: recent advances in research and application

“…There are many kinds of carrier polymers for biodegradable microspheres, including both natural biodegradable polymers and synthetic ones. Most of the natural polymers come from plants, animals or microorganisms, such as starch (Lin et al, 2013 ; Sommer et al, 2018 ; Tesfay et al, 2020 ), chitosan (Li et al, 2017 ; Calzoni et al, 2019 ; Huang et al, 2019 ; Li et al, 2020 ; Cirri et al, 2021 ), alginate (Campana et al, 2020 ; Ghumman et al, 2020 ; Panchal & Vasava, 2020 ), gelatin (Kim et al, 2018 ; Chen et al, 2019 ; Javanbakht et al, 2019 ), etc. They are used as microsphere carriers due to their rich properties and good biocompatibility (Prajapati et al, 2015 ).…”

Facile synthesis of highly tunable monodispersed calcium hydroxide composite particles by using a two-step ion exchange reaction

“…Cell viability was evaluated using the "3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT)" assay. 33,34 NIH/3T3 and MCF-7 cells (1 Â 10 5 per well) were seeded into the 96-well culture dish plates containing 150 mL of the culture medium DMEM/F-12 (GE, USA) for 24 h. Before the MTT assay, the Ca(OH) 2 composite particles were ground to powder. Then, Ca(OH) 2 composite powder was mixed into DMEM/F-12 at concentrations ranging from 0 to 500 mg mL À1 .…”

Nanomagnetite-embedded PLGA Spheres for Multipurpose Medical Applications

“…Moreover, Fe 3 O 4 with core dimensions of 10–20 nm have superparamagnetic behavior. Magnetically-responsive biomaterials embedded with Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles have been assessed as multifunctional systems for specific, selective, and performance-enhanced anti-infective [43,44] and anti-cancer applications [45,46], as well as for regenerative medicine [47,48]. In particular, Fe 3 O 4 -based nanostructured systems are promising platforms for successful controlled and targeted drug delivery applications by means of magnetic hyperthermia [41,49,50].…”