Title : Supercritical microfluidic system for production of nanoparticles and liposomes for pharmaceutical formulation
Abstract:
Pharmaceutical formulation techniques have been developed as achieving controlled-release system and high bioavailability of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Formation of the pharmaceutical suspension with nanoparticles or liposomes is one of the dosage forms to increase the bioavailability. The nanoparticle of the pharmaceuticals in the suspension can enhance the absorption rate and liposomes can control the release rate and dissolved amounts of APIs. There is an obstacle of the difficulties in the aggregation of the suspended particle and difficulties of liposome size control in the conventional production of the pharmaceutical suspension. Supercritical CO2 can be applied for material design in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food fields because of its nontoxic property and mild temperature operation. Some research groups have developed the fabrication technique of the nanoparticles and liposome using supercritical CO2, such as rapid expansion of supercritical solution or supercritical anti- solvent.
We have provided a flow-production of the APIs carrier nanoparticles in aqueous suspension using supercritical CO2 combined with microfluidic system. Supercritical extraction of emulsion (SFEE) in the microfluidic system was applied for the fabrication of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and lipid suspension as a carrier of APIs. Slug flow of supercritical CO2 and a liquid-phase emulsion can be used for the extraction of oil in the O/W emulsion into supercritical CO2. The effect of the hydrophobicity of PVA and lecithin on the particle formation in the solution was investigated. This microfluidic SFEE system has been also applied for the lipid-nanosuspension. The microfluidic system using supercritical CO2 is also used for liposome production (LipTube system). The water in supercritical CO2 (W/CO2) emulsion can be formed by a swirl- type micro-mixing at high-pressure condition and the further slug flow of W/CO2 emulsion and water phase used for the formation of liposome structure.
Audience Take Away Notes:
- How to design the microfluidic system using supercritical CO2
- How to control the nanoparticle size using supercritical extraction of emulsion
- How to control the liposome size in LipTube system
