Poster Presentations
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Microfluidic Platform for Nanoprecipitation of Curcumin Encapsulated Polyester Nanoparticles
Hei Man Leung, PostDoc, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
Curcumin is the yellow pigments in turmeric and it exhibits a number of medicinal benefits but its poor aqueous solubility and stability limit its bioavailability. Recently, a one-step nanoprecipitation method of synthesizing polyester nanoparticles has been developed to stabilize curcumin in aqueous environment. [1] Although these polyester nanoparticles have potentials as drug delivery systems, the resulting nanoparticle solutions have a large size distribution for clinical applications. Microfluidics provide a controlled microenvironment for the nanoprecipitation of polyester nanoparticles. [2] In this work, polyester nanoparticles were synthesized with cross slot geometry microfluidic devices, using poly(e-caprolactone) and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) to encapsulate curcumin. Dynamic light scattering results revealed a narrow distribution of PDI = 0.1 with an average size about 50 nm. Furthermore, the negative zeta potential values between -30 mV to -60 mV indicate an excellent colloidal stability of these polyester nanoparticles. In addition, UV-vis spectroscopy results indicate an enhancement in the stability of curcumin in an aqueous environment. Extensive material characterization results suggest that our microfluidics platform is useful in the synthesis of polyester nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution for encapsulation of curcumin.
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