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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
1

Curcumin-loaded block copolymer nanoparticles for drug delivery using microfluidics

Chen, Ruyao 09 March 2017 (has links)
This thesis includes three stages of experiments. The goal of the thesis was to prepare nanoparticle-encapsulated curcumin for the purpose of drug delivery. The first step was the nanoparticle preparation. The self-assembly of block copolymer (poly(ε- caprolactone)-b-poly(ethylene oxide)) and curcumin was conducted on a gas-liquid two phase microfluidic reactor. During preparation, various chemical parameters and flow rates were tested. The nanoparticles showed flow variability; the size decreased and the loading efficiency increased with increased flow rates. Increasing the water content and drug-to-polymer loading ratio also proved to increase loading efficiency and decrease the size of the nanoparticles. The release profiles, however, showed fast release rates under various preparation conditions, with a nearly complete release after ~5 h. In the next stage of the research, we considered release optimization in preparation for future pharmacokinetic studies. Increasing the flow rate had a greater influence on slowing down release rates than changing other parameters, such as decreasing the drug-to- polymer loading ratio or increasing the water content. A procedure to extract and quantify curcumin from mouse blood was also developed in this stage. In the final stage of the research, nanoparticle-encapsulated curcumin was tested on a human breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231. The result showed that the nanoparticle formulation had a growth inhibition effect on MDA-MB-231, although the cytotoxicity was compromised by encapsulation in the nanoparticles. / Graduate / 2019-01-13

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