Maria Russo1,2, Anna Maria Grimaldi3, Paolo Bevilacqua3, Olimpia Tammaro1,2, Paolo Antonio Netti1,2, Enza Torino1,2. 1. Center for Advanced Biomaterials for Health Care, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, IIT@CRIB, Largo Barsanti e Matteucci, 80125 Naples, Italy. 2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Materials & Industrial Production, University of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy. 3. IRCCS Fondazione SDN, Istituto di Ricerca Diagnostica e Nucleare, 80143 Naples, Italy.
Abstract
AIM: A high versatile microfluidic platform is proposed to design, in a one-step strategy, PEGylated crosslinked hyaluronic acid nanoparticles (cHANPs) entrapping a magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent and a dye for multimodal imaging applications. MATERIALS & METHODS: Clinically relevant biomaterials were shaped in the form of spherical NPs through a microfluidic flow focusing approach. A comparison between post processing and simultaneous PEGylation is reported to evaluate the potentiality of the chemical decoration of the cHANPs in microfluidics. RESULTS: An accurate control of the NPs in terms of size, PEGylation and loading was obtained. Furthermore, in vitro cell viability is reported and their ability to boost the magnetic resonance imaging signal is also confirmed. CONCLUSION: The proposed microfluidic approach reveals its ability to overcome several limitations of the traditional processes and to become an easy-to-use platform for theranostic applications.
AIM: A high versatile microfluidic platform is proposed to design, in a one-step strategy, PEGylated crosslinked hyaluronic acid nanoparticles (cHANPs) entrapping a magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent and a dye for multimodal imaging applications. MATERIALS & METHODS: Clinically relevant biomaterials were shaped in the form of spherical NPs through a microfluidic flow focusing approach. A comparison between post processing and simultaneous PEGylation is reported to evaluate the potentiality of the chemical decoration of the cHANPs in microfluidics. RESULTS: An accurate control of the NPs in terms of size, PEGylation and loading was obtained. Furthermore, in vitro cell viability is reported and their ability to boost the magnetic resonance imaging signal is also confirmed. CONCLUSION: The proposed microfluidic approach reveals its ability to overcome several limitations of the traditional processes and to become an easy-to-use platform for theranostic applications.
Entities:
Keywords:
magnetic resonance imaging; microfluidics; nanoparticles
Authors: Franca De Sarno; Alfonso Maria Ponsiglione; Maria Russo; Anna Maria Grimaldi; Ernesto Forte; Paolo Antonio Netti; Enza Torino Journal: Theranostics Date: 2019-02-28 Impact factor: 11.556