Property-tuneable microgels fabricated by using flow-focusing microfluidic geometry for bioactive agent delivery

Wing Fu Lai, Wing Tak Wong

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

63 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Gelatine methacryloyl (GM) shows high biocompatibility and is extensively used in tissue engineering; however, few works have explored the use of GM in bioactive agent delivery. This study adopts a microfluidic approach involving the use of flow-focusing microfluidic geometry for microgel fabrication. This approach generates highly monodisperse microgels whose size can be tuned by altering various fabrication conditions (including the concentration of the gel-forming solution and the flow rates of different phases). By using tetracycline hydrochloride as a model agent, the fabricated microgels enable prolonged agent release, with the encapsulation efficiency being around 30–40% depending on the concentration of the gel-forming solution. Along with their negligible cytotoxicity, our microgels show the potential to serve as carriers of bioactive agents for food and pharmaceutical applications.

Original languageEnglish
Article number787
JournalPharmaceutics
Volume13
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2021

Keywords

  • Controlled release
  • Flow-focusing geometry
  • Microfluidics
  • Microgels
  • Nutraceuticals

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pharmaceutical Science

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