One-step fabrication of bicompartmental microparticles as a dual drug delivery system for Parkinson’s disease management

Oral delivery is the most common method for drug administration. However, poor solubility, stability, and bioavailability of many drugs make achieving therapeutic levels via the gastrointestinal (GI) tract challenging. Drug delivery must overcome numerous hurdles, including the acidic gastric environment and the continuous secretion of mucus that protects the GI tract. Nanoparticle drug carriers that can shield drugs from degradation and deliver them to intended sites within the GI tract may enable more efficient and sustained drug delivery. However, the rapid secretion and shedding of GI tract mucus can significantly limit the effectiveness of nanoparticle drug delivery systems. Many types of nanoparticles are efficiently trapped in and rapidly removed by mucus, making controlled release in the GI tract difficult. This review addresses the protective barrier properties of mucus secretions, how mucus affects the fate of orally administered nanoparticles, and recent developments in nanoparticles engineered to penetrate the mucus barrier. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Advances in the field of nanotechnology have fuelled the vision of future devices spawned from tiny functional components that are able to assemble according to a master blueprint. In this concept, the controlled distribution of matter or 'patchiness' is important for creating anisotropic building blocks and introduces an extra design parameter--beyond size and shape. Although the reliable and efficient fabrication of building blocks with controllable material distributions will be of interest for many applications in research and technology, their synthesis has been addressed only in a few specialized cases. Here we show the design and synthesis of polymer-based particles with two distinct phases. The biphasic geometry of these Janus particles is induced by the simultaneous electrohydrodynamic jetting of parallel polymer solutions under the influence of an electrical field. The individual phases can be independently loaded with biomolecules or selectively modified with model ligands, as confirmed by confocal microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The fact that the spatial distribution of matter can be controlled at such small length scales will provide access to unknown anisotropic materials. This type of nanocolloid may enable the design of multicomponent carriers for drug delivery, molecular imaging or guided self-assembly.