Development of Hydrophilic Drug Encapsulation and Controlled Release Using a Modified Nanoprecipitation Method

• Main Authors: Jiang Xu, Yuyan Chen, Xizhi Jiang, Zhongzheng Gui, Lei Zhang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-06-01
• Series: Processes
• Subjects: diblock copolymers; drug delivery systems; nanoparticles; nanoprecipitation; self-assembly
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/7/6/331

The improvement of the loading content of hydrophilic drugs by polymer nanoparticles (NPs) recently has received increased attention from the field of controlled release. We developed a novel, simply modified, drop-wise nanoprecipitation method which separated hydrophilic drugs and polymers into aqueous phase (continuous phase) and organic phase (dispersed phase), both individually and involving a mixing process. Using this method, we produced ciprofloxacin-loaded NPs by Poly (<span style="font-variant: small-caps;">d</span>,<span style="font-variant: small-caps;">l</span>-lactic acid)-Dextran (PLA-DEX) and Poly lactic acid-co-glycolic acid-Polyethylene glycol (PLGA-PEG) successfully, with a considerable drug-loading ability up to 27.2 wt% and an in vitro sustained release for up to six days. Drug content with NPs can be precisely tuned by changing the initial drug feed concentration of ciprofloxacin. These studies suggest that this modified nanoprecipitation method is a rapid, facile, and reproducible technique for making nano-scale drug delivery carriers with high drug-loading abilities