Purpose

Inkjet printing has the potential to enable novel personalized and tailored drug therapies based on liposome and lipid nanoparticles. However, due to the significant shear force exerted on the jetted fluids, its suitability for shear-sensitive materials such as liposomes, has not been verified. We have conducted a proof-of-concept study to examine whether the particle concentration and size distribution of placebo liposomes are affected by common inkjet/dispensing technologies.

Methods

We have subjected three types of liposome-containing fluids (“inks”) to two different commercial dispensing/jetting technologies, which are relevant to most drug printing approaches. The liposome jetting processes were observed in real-time using strobographic imaging techniques. The phospholipid concentrations and particle size distributions were determined before and after jetting via enzymatic colorimetric and dynamic light scattering methods, respectively.

Results

Our results have shown that the jetting dynamics of the liposome inks are well predicted by the established inkjet printing regime map based on their physical properties and the jetting conditions. Importantly, although significant shear forces were confirmed during jetting, the liposome concentrations and particle size distributions in the collected samples remain largely unaffected.

Conclusion

These findings, we believe, provide the essential proof-of-concept to encourage further development in this highly topical research area.

中文翻译：

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脂质体能否经受住喷墨打印？喷射对药物递送应用的关键脂质体属性的影响

目的

喷墨打印有可能实现基于脂质体和脂质纳米颗粒的新型个性化和定制药物疗法。然而，由于在喷射流体上施加了显着的剪切力，其对剪切敏感材料（如脂质体）的适用性尚未得到验证。我们进行了概念验证研究，以检查安慰剂脂质体的颗粒浓度和尺寸分布是否受到常见喷墨/分配技术的影响。

方法

我们已将三种类型的含脂质体流体（“墨水”）应用于两种不同的商业分配/喷射技术，这与大多数药物印刷方法相关。使用频闪成像技术实时观察脂质体喷射过程。分别通过酶比色法和动态光散射法测定喷射前后的磷脂浓度和粒度分布。

结果

我们的结果表明，脂质体墨水的喷射动力学可以通过基于其物理性质和喷射条件的已建立的喷墨打印方案图得到很好的预测。重要的是，尽管在喷射过程中确认了显着的剪切力，但所收集样品中的脂质体浓度和粒径分布基本上不受影响。

结论

我们相信，这些发现提供了必要的概念验证，以鼓励在这个高度热门的研究领域进一步发展。