A Facile Route to the Synthesis of Monodisperse Nanoscale Liposomes Using 3D Microfluidic Hydrodynamic Focusing in a Concentric Capillary Array

Published

May 14, 2014

Author(s)

Wyatt N. Vreeland, Renee R. Hood, Don L. DeVoe, Francisco J. Atencia, Donna M. Omiatek

Abstract

A novel microscale device has been developed to enable the one-step continuous flow assembly of monodisperse nanoscale liposomes using three-dimensional microfluidic hydrodynamic focusing (3D-MHF) in a radially symmetric capillary array. The 3D-MHF flow technique displays patent advantages over conventional methods for nanoscale liposome synthesis (i.e., bulk-scale alcohol injection and film hydration and extrusion) through the on-demand manufacture of consistently uniform liposomes at unparalleled rates (factor of 104 liposomes/min increase in production rate relative to state-of- the-art liposome production strategies). Liposomes produced by the 3D-MHF device are of tunable size and have a factor of two improvement in polydispersity over previous MHF methods which can be attributed to entirely radially symmetric diffusion of alcohol-solubilized lipid into an aqueous flow stream. Moreover, the 3D-MHF platform is simple to construct from low-cost, commercial parts, which obviaties the need for advanced microfabrication strategies necessitated by previous MHF nanoparticle synthesis platforms.

Citation

Lab on A Chip

Issue

14

Pub Type

Journals

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DOI Link

Keywords

liposomes, microfluidics, sheath flow, monodisperse

Citation

Vreeland, W. , Hood, R. , DeVoe, D. , Atencia, F. and Omiatek, D. (2014), A Facile Route to the Synthesis of Monodisperse Nanoscale Liposomes Using 3D Microfluidic Hydrodynamic Focusing in a Concentric Capillary Array, Lab on A Chip, [online], https://doi.org/10.1039/C4LC00334A (Accessed November 5, 2025)