Design and fabrication of low-cost microsystems for production of chitosan particles

Abstract

Recent research has focused on the methods for administration of medications in a controlled manner while minimizing side effects. Cross-linked hydrogels have wide application area as nanocarriers. There are many approaches for developing suitable methods to produce ideal particles. Advances in microtechnology have been considered as a solution to produce controlled drug delivery systems, however, it is limited due to the necessity for specialized laboratories. In this study, a simple method to produce antibiotic-loaded chitosan particles is proposed. Production was carried out with two different designs, a syringe-based flow focusing system (outer diameter of 1 mm, inner diameter of 120 µm) and microchannel with 250 µm width and 100 µm height fabricated with the computer numerical control (CNC). Sodium Triphosphate (TPP) was used as cross-linking agent for the production of particles and the effects of the concentration and flow rates on the particle formation was investigated. It has been observed that particles can be produced in a syringe-based system, but the resulting particles are not homogeneous. In the studies carried out with CNC microchannel, it was determined by SEM analysis that the obtained particles ranged in size from 39 to 771 nm, and it was seen that the CNC microchannel was more effective at low and equal flow rates (25 µl/min). It has been found that increasing the flow rate and concentration of chitosan increases the particle size. It was determined that Ampicillin loaded particles synthesized with the CNC microchannel exhibited high inhibition against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. These results show that the proposed approaches for the design of microsystems can be used in the formation of drug carriers without the need for specialized laboratories and expertise. © 2024 Gazi Universitesi. All rights reserved.