Microfluidic fabrication and characterization of Sorafenib-loaded lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles for controlled drug delivery
Authors: Hélder A Santos
Nayab Tahir
Asadullah Madni
Alexandra Correia
Muhammad Muzamil Khan
Muhammad Abdur Rahim
Wei Li
Journal: International Journal of Pharmaceutics (2020)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: Controlled release; Drug delivery; Hybrid nanoparticles; Microfluidic; Nanoprecipitation.
Affiliations: College of Pharmacy, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan; Department of Pharmacy, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, 63100 Bahawalpur, Pakistan; Drug Research Program, Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland., Department of Pharmacy, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, 63100 Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Electronic address: ., Drug Research Program, Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland., Drug Research Program, Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland; Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE), University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: .

Abstract:  Lipid polymer hybrid nanoparticles (LPHNPs) have been merged as potential nanocarriers for treatment of cancer. In the present study, LPHNPs loaded with Sorafenib (SFN) were prepared with PLGA, Lecithin and DSPE-PEG 2000 by using the bulk nanoprecipitation and microfluidic (MF) co-flow nanoprecipitation techniques. Herein, a glass capillary microfluidic device was primed to optimize the LPHNPs and compared to the bulk nanoprecipitation method. The morphological analysis of prepared LPHNPs revealed the well-defined spherical nano-sized particles in bulk nanoprecipitation method. Whereas, core shell morphology was observed in the MF method. The formulation prepared by the MF method (MF1-MF3) indicated relatively higher % EE (95.0%, 93.8% and 88.7%) and controlled release of the SFN from the particles as compared to the LPHNPs obtained by the bulk nanoprecipitation method. However, the release of SFN from all LPHNP formulation followed Higuchi model (R2 = 0.9901-0.9389) with Fickian diffusion mechanism. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and powder X-rays diffraction (pXRD) studies depicted the compatibility of SFN with all the structural components. In addition, the colloidal stability, in vitro cytotoxicity and cell growth inhibition studies of LPHNPs also demonstrated stability in biological media, biocompatibility and safety with enhanced anti-proliferative effects than the free SFN in breast cancer and prostate cancer cells. In conclusion, LPHNPs provided a prospective platform for the cancer chemotherapy and substantially improved the knowledge of fabrication and optimization of the hybrid nanoparticles. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 The electron microscopy images presented in Figure 2 are difficult to interpret. In A, perfect circular particles are shown without any background noise. The other images can be anything, e.g. aggregates of debris. The white semicircular areas in C and D have the same empty appearance without any noise, similar to the general background. Why are the X-ray diffraction measurement of PLGA and lecithin (Figure 6) identical? ![file] ![file] , 
 #1 I agree with most of these concerns and would also note that the scale bar in 2A appears to have been copied and pasted from 2B (you will note they share the same background features), although 2B appears as if it has been horizontally stretched, making the 0s (numeral) in the scale bars appear more like capital Os (letter). *** Enhanced brightness ![file] ,