Yu Mingzhi, Liu Dongsheng, Shah Pranay, Qiu Bei, Mathew Allen, Yao Liang, Guan Tianyu, Cong Hengji, Zhang Nan
Centre of Micro/Nano Manufacturing Technology (MNMT-Dublin), School of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, University College Dublin, Dublin 4 D04 V1W8, Ireland.
Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, South East Technological University, Carlow R93 V960, Ireland.
ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2025 Jun 9;11(6):3762-3772. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.4c02373. Epub 2025 May 21.
RNA therapeutics represent a pivotal advancement in contemporary medicine, pioneering innovative treatments in oncology and vaccine production. The inherent instability of RNA and its delivery challenges necessitate the use of lipid-based nanoparticles as crucial transport vehicles. This research focuses on the design, simulation, and optimization of various microfluidic channel configurations for fabricating poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microfluidic chips, aimed at producing lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) encapsulating green fluorescent protein mRNA (GFP mRNA). Aiming for high mixing efficiency and acceptable pressure drop suitable for scale-up, we designed and improved multiple microfluidic channels featuring flow focusing and diverse tilted rectangular baffle structures via computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Simulation results indicated that baffle angles ranging from 70 to 90° exhibited similar mixing efficiencies at different total flow rates, with pressure drops increasing alongside the baffle angle. Additionally, increasing the baffle length at a fixed angle of 70° not only improved mixing efficiency but also increased the pressure drop. To validate these findings, PDMS microfluidic chips were fabricated for all designs to prepare empty LNPs. The baffle structure with a 70° angle and 150 μm length was identified as the best configuration based on both simulation and experimental results. This optimal design was then used to prepare LNPs with varying GFP mRNA concentrations, demonstrating that an N/P ratio of 5.6 yielded the highest transfection efficiency from experiments. This work not only advances the production of lipid-based nanoparticles through microfluidics but also provides a scalable and reproducible method that can potentially enhance the clinical translation of RNA therapeutics.
RNA疗法是当代医学的一项关键进展,开创了肿瘤学和疫苗生产方面的创新治疗方法。RNA固有的不稳定性及其递送挑战使得必须使用基于脂质的纳米颗粒作为关键的运输载体。本研究聚焦于用于制造聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)微流控芯片的各种微流控通道配置的设计、模拟和优化,旨在生产包裹绿色荧光蛋白mRNA(GFP mRNA)的脂质纳米颗粒(LNP)。为了实现高混合效率和适合放大的可接受压降,我们通过计算流体动力学(CFD)设计并改进了多种具有流动聚焦和不同倾斜矩形挡板结构的微流控通道。模拟结果表明,在不同总流速下,70至90°的挡板角度表现出相似的混合效率,压降随挡板角度增加而增大。此外,在固定的70°角度下增加挡板长度不仅提高了混合效率,还增加了压降。为了验证这些发现,针对所有设计制作了PDMS微流控芯片以制备空的LNP。基于模拟和实验结果,70°角和150μm长度的挡板结构被确定为最佳配置。然后使用这种最佳设计制备具有不同GFP mRNA浓度的LNP,实验表明N/P比为5.6时转染效率最高。这项工作不仅通过微流控技术推进了基于脂质的纳米颗粒的生产,还提供了一种可扩展且可重复的方法,有可能增强RNA疗法的临床转化。
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