Manufacturing of 3D-Printed Microfluidic Devices for the Synthesis of Drug-Loaded Liposomal Formulations

Ballacchino, Giulia; Weaver, Edward; Mathew, Essyrose; Dorati, Rossella; Genta, Ida; Conti, Bice; Lamprou, Dimitrios A.

doi:10.3390/ijms22158064

Open AccessArticle

Manufacturing of 3D-Printed Microfluidic Devices for the Synthesis of Drug-Loaded Liposomal Formulations

by

Giulia Ballacchino

^1,2,

Edward Weaver

¹

,

Essyrose Mathew

¹

,

Rossella Dorati

²

,

Ida Genta

²

,

Bice Conti

^2,*

and

Dimitrios A. Lamprou

^1,*

¹

School of Pharmacy, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT9 7BL, UK

²

Department of Drug Sciences, University of Pavia, Viale Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, Italy

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(15), 8064; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22158064

Submission received: 23 June 2021 / Revised: 22 July 2021 / Accepted: 26 July 2021 / Published: 28 July 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drug Delivery and Scaffolding in the Era of 3D-Printing and Microfluidic Techniques: Challenges and Opportunities 2.0)

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Abstract

Microfluidic technique has emerged as a promising tool for the production of stable and monodispersed nanoparticles (NPs). In particular, this work focuses on liposome production by microfluidics and on factors involved in determining liposome characteristics. Traditional fabrication techniques for microfluidic devices suffer from several disadvantages, such as multistep processing and expensive facilities. Three-dimensional printing (3DP) has been revolutionary for microfluidic device production, boasting facile and low-cost fabrication. In this study, microfluidic devices with innovative micromixing patterns were developed using fused deposition modelling (FDM) and liquid crystal display (LCD) printers. To date, this work is the first to study liposome production using LCD-printed microfluidic devices. The current study deals with 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) liposomes with cholesterol (2:1) prepared using commercial and 3D-printed microfluidic devices. We evaluated the effect of microfluidic parameters, chip manufacturing, material, and channel design on liposomal formulation by analysing the size, PDI, and ζ-potential. Curcumin exhibits potent anticancer activity and it has been reported that curcumin-loaded liposomes formulated by microfluidics show enhanced encapsulation efficiency when compared with other reported systems. In this work, curcumal liposomes were produced using the developed microfluidic devices and particle sizing, ζ-potential, encapsulation efficiency, and in vitro release studies were performed at 37 °C.

Keywords: microfluidics; chip manufacturing; 3D printing; nanoparticles; liposomes; curcumin; drug delivery; personalised medicine

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MDPI and ACS Style

Ballacchino, G.; Weaver, E.; Mathew, E.; Dorati, R.; Genta, I.; Conti, B.; Lamprou, D.A. Manufacturing of 3D-Printed Microfluidic Devices for the Synthesis of Drug-Loaded Liposomal Formulations. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22, 8064. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22158064

AMA Style

Ballacchino G, Weaver E, Mathew E, Dorati R, Genta I, Conti B, Lamprou DA. Manufacturing of 3D-Printed Microfluidic Devices for the Synthesis of Drug-Loaded Liposomal Formulations. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2021; 22(15):8064. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22158064

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ballacchino, Giulia, Edward Weaver, Essyrose Mathew, Rossella Dorati, Ida Genta, Bice Conti, and Dimitrios A. Lamprou. 2021. "Manufacturing of 3D-Printed Microfluidic Devices for the Synthesis of Drug-Loaded Liposomal Formulations" International Journal of Molecular Sciences 22, no. 15: 8064. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22158064

APA Style

Ballacchino, G., Weaver, E., Mathew, E., Dorati, R., Genta, I., Conti, B., & Lamprou, D. A. (2021). Manufacturing of 3D-Printed Microfluidic Devices for the Synthesis of Drug-Loaded Liposomal Formulations. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(15), 8064. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22158064

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Manufacturing of 3D-Printed Microfluidic Devices for the Synthesis of Drug-Loaded Liposomal Formulations

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