PolySciTech PEG-PLGA used for non-parental medicinal delivery testing

PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) provides a wide array of PEG-PLGA polymers through various routes including by distribution through our partner Sigma-Aldrich. Recently, PolySciTech PEG-PLGA polymers purchased through Sigma-Aldrich were used to determine the utiliziation of PEG-PLGA for drug delivery by non-parental applications including eye, nose, GI tract, and lungs by investigating the interaction between these nanoparticles with the mucus barrier. Read more: Griffiths, Peter Charles, Beatrice Cattoz, Mervat Shafik Ibrahim, and Josephine Chibuzor Anuonye. "Probing the interaction of nanoparticles with mucin for drug delivery applications using dynamic light scattering." European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics (2015). http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0939641115002222

“Abstract: Drug delivery via the eye, nose, gastrointestinal tract and lung is of great interest as they represent patient-compliant and facile methods to administer drugs. However, for a drug to reach the systemic circulation it must penetrate the “mucus barrier”. An understanding of the characteristics of the mucus barrier is therefore important in the design of mucus penetrating drug delivery vehicles e.g. nanoparticles. Here, a range of nanoparticles – silica, aluminium coated silica, poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and PEGylated PLGA – each with known but different physicochemical characteristics were examined in the presence of mucin to identify those characteristics that engender nanoparticle/mucin interactions and thus, to define “design rules” for mucus penetrating (nano)particles (MPP), at least in terms of the surface characteristics of charge and hydrophilicity. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and rheology have been used to assess the interaction between such nanoparticles and mucin. It was found that negatively charged and hydrophilic nanoparticles do not exhibit an interaction with mucin whereas positively charged and hydrophobic nanoparticles show a strong interaction. Surface grafted poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) chains significantly reduced this interaction. This study clearly demonstrates that the established colloid science techniques of DLS and rheology are very powerful screening tools to probe nanoparticle/mucin interactions. Keywords: Mucin; Silica; Aluminium coated silica; Poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA); PEGylated PLGA; Dynamic light scattering; Rheology”