The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
Nanoscale. 2018 Dec 21;10(47):22312-22318. doi: 10.1039/c8nr07027j. Epub 2018 Nov 23.
We report a method based on interfacial, anti-solvent-induced precipitation in a fluidic device for the continuous and scalable processing of phase-change materials (PCMs) into uniform nanoparticles with controlled diameters in the range of 10-100 nm. A eutectic mixture of lauric acid and stearic acid, with a well-defined melting point at 39 °C, serves as an example to demonstrate the concept. In the fluidic device, a coaxial flow is created by introducing a PCM solution in ethanol and a lipid solution in water (the anti-solvent) as the focused and focusing phases, respectively. The formation of lipid-capped PCM nanoparticles is governed by diffusion-controlled mixing of ethanol and water. During the production, both doxorubicin (DOX, an anticancer drug) and indocyanine green (ICG, a near-infrared dye) can be readily loaded into the PCM nanoparticles to give a smart drug release system. Upon irradiation with near-infrared light, the photothermal heating caused by ICG can melt the PCM and thereby trigger the release of DOX. This work not only provides a new technique for the continuous processing of PCMs and other soft materials into uniform nanoparticles with controlled sizes but also demonstrates a biocompatible system for controlled release and related applications.
我们报告了一种基于界面的方法，在流体装置中，通过反溶剂诱导沉淀，可以连续且可扩展地将相变材料（PCM）处理成具有 10-100nm 范围内的可控直径的均匀纳米颗粒。以具有明确的 39°C 熔点的月桂酸和硬脂酸的共晶混合物为例来证明该概念。在该流体装置中，通过分别引入乙醇中的 PCM 溶液和水中的脂质溶液（反溶剂）来形成同轴流。脂质包覆的 PCM 纳米颗粒的形成受乙醇和水的扩散控制混合的控制。在生产过程中，阿霉素（DOX，一种抗癌药物）和吲哚菁绿（ICG，一种近红外染料）都可以很容易地负载到 PCM 纳米颗粒中，形成智能药物释放系统。近红外光照射后，ICG 的光热加热可以使 PCM 熔化，从而触发 DOX 的释放。这项工作不仅为连续处理 PCM 和其他软材料成具有可控尺寸的均匀纳米颗粒提供了一种新技术，而且还展示了一种用于控制释放和相关应用的生物相容系统。
