TAILORING THE SYNTHESIS OF MONODISPERSE PEG-STABILIZED LIPOSOMES VIA MICROFLUIDIC DEVICES

Microfluidics has emerged as a valuable tool for the synthesis of microand nanostructures, through exploiting the manipulation of small amounts of fluids in micrometric platforms. Hydrodynamic focusing microfluidic devices have been widely investigated for the synthesis of liposomes towards varied nanomedicine applications. Here we describe the synthesis of stealth liposomes, conjugated with 1% of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-lipid, through microfluidic devices based on hydrodynamic focusing and increasing ionic strength by using phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). We were able to synthesize stealth liposomes of 130 nm in size, with low polydispersity index (PDI≤0.2) and positive zeta potential. When compared to the use of aqueous side streams, the proposed process with high ionic strength revealed to be an easy, feasible and reproducible strategy for the synthesis of monodisperse stealth liposomes with monomodal size distribution, for further drug and gene delivery applications.