The effect of preparation parameters on the size and morphology of PLGA-based nanoparticles

Nanoparticles now have various pharmaceutical and biomedical applications due to the many advantages such as improvement in drug bioavailability, ability to cross barriers after oral and parentral administration, and being an excellent drug carrier for insoluble drugs. However, size and morphological characteristics of nanoparticles are critical for drug release in the body, warranting understanding the parameters controlling the above characteristics. This paper describes, firstly, preparation parameters to optimize the size of polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA)-based nanoparticles, and secondly, study the morphology of the same nanoparticles, formed by the emulsion solvent evaporation technique. The solvent evaporation technique involves an aqueous phase containing polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a stabilizing agent. After washing, the samples were freeze-dried and analyzed using particle size analyzer and scanning electron microscope. The preparation parameters studied included; homogenizing speed, homogenizing time, stabilizer concentration and temperature.