The Microfluidic Technique and the Manufacturing of Polysaccharide Nanoparticles

Abstract

The microfluidic technique has emerged as a promising tool to accelerate the clinical translation of nanoparticles, and its application affects several aspects, such as the production of nanoparticles and the in vitro characterization in the microenvironment, mimicking in vivo conditions. This review covers the general aspects of the microfluidic technique and its application in several fields, such as the synthesis, recovering, and samples analysis of nanoparticles, and in vitro characterization and their in vivo application. Among these, advantages in the production of polymeric nanoparticles in a well-controlled, reproducible, and high-throughput manner have been highlighted, and detailed descriptions of microfluidic devices broadly used for the synthesis of polysaccharide nanoparticles have been provided. These nanoparticulate systems have drawn attention as drug delivery vehicles over many years; nevertheless, their synthesis using the microfluidic technique is still largely unexplored. This review deals with the use of the microfluidic technique for the synthesis of polysaccharide nanoparticles; evaluating features of the most studied polysaccharide drug carriers, such as chitosan, hyaluronic acid, and alginate polymers. The critical assessment of the most recent research published in literature allows us to assume that microfluidics will play an important role in the discovery and clinical translation of nanoplatforms.

Staggered Herringbone Microfluid Device for the Manufacturing of Chitosan/TPP Nanoparticles: Systematic Optimization and Preliminary Biological Evaluation

“…Cartridge's mixing channels were 200 µm × 79 µm (w × h) and the herringbone structure was 31 µm high and 50 µm thick. An angle of 45 • divides the ridges and the long axis of the channel [49].…”

The Design of Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) Nanocarriers for Medical Applications

“…The area of microfluidics deals with channels of the micrometer size range that are used to control and manipulate the movement of volumes of fluid from the nanolitre size range and below. When working at the nanoscale, the conditions of flow can be precisely controlled and constant laminar flow is maintained, which is impossible when conducting reactions at the macroscale level (Chiesa et al, 2018). Therefore this technique has lent itself to the synthesis of nanoparticles by the formation of emulsions using droplet microfluidics.…”

Microfluidic Generation of Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications

“…Polysaccharides are promising polymers in biomaterials which have many advantages over synthetic polymers, such as their natural abundance, generally low cost, easy manipulation and excellent biocompatibility . The application of microfluidic techniques to these polymers for manufacturing NPs has become an interesting topic in scientific research . For example, Pessoa et al designed four different HF microfluidic chip with various geometries for the synthesis of chitosan NPs ( Figure a): D‐simple with a short straight channel, D‐long with a long curved channel, D‐bends with a long bended channel, and D‐barriers with a long channel separated by interval barriers .…”