Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jan 17;17(1):129.
doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics17010129.

Prilling as an Effective Tool for Manufacturing Submicrometric and Nanometric PLGA Particles for Controlled Drug Delivery to Wounds: Stability and Curcumin Release

Chiara De Soricellis  1 , Chiara Amante  1 , Paola Russo  1 , Rita Patrizia Aquino  1 , Pasquale Del Gaudio  1
Affiliations

Prilling as an Effective Tool for Manufacturing Submicrometric and Nanometric PLGA Particles for Controlled Drug Delivery to Wounds: Stability and Curcumin Release

Chiara De Soricellis et al. Pharmaceutics. .

Abstract

Background/objectives: This study investigates for the first time the use of the prilling technique in combination with solvent evaporation to produce nano- and submicrometric PLGA particles to deliver properly an active pharmaceutical ingredient. Curcumin (CCM), a hydrophobic compound classified under BCS (Biopharmaceutics Classification System) class IV, was selected as the model drug.

Methods: Key process parameters, including polymer concentration, solvent type, nozzle size, and surfactant levels, were optimized to obtain stable particles with a narrow size distribution determined by DLS analysis.

Results: Particles mean diameter (d50) 316 and 452 nm, depending on drug-loaded cargo as Curcumin-loaded PLGA nanoparticles demonstrated high encapsulation efficiency, assessed via HPLC analysis, stability, and controlled release profiles. In vitro studies revealed a faster release for lower drug loadings (90% release in 6 h) compared to sustained release over 7 days for higher-loaded nanoparticles, attributed to polymer degradation and drug-polymer interactions on the surface of the particles, as confirmed by FTIR analyses.

Conclusions: These findings underline the potential of this scalable technique for biomedical applications, offering a versatile platform for designing drug delivery systems with tailored release characteristics.

Keywords: PLGA; curcumin; nanoparticles; prilling; solvent evaporation; submicrometric particles.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Size distribution of PLGA nanoparticles produced by prilling in tandem with solvent evaporation. (A) The effect of DCM and EtOAc in combination with PVA with different molecular weights (LMW and MMW). (B) The effect of different PVA (PVALMw and PVAMMw) at different concentrations using EtOAc as a solvent.
Figure 2
Figure 2
SEM microphotographs of PLGA nanoparticles produced by prilling with two different solvents for the feed: (a) DCM-based feed and (b) EtOAc-based feed.
Figure 3
Figure 3
SEM microphotographs of PLGA nanoparticles produced by prilling with optimized conditions and loaded with different amounts of curcumin: (a) 10% (w/w) and (b) 20% (w/w) of the polymer.
Figure 4
Figure 4
FTIR spectra of (a) curcumin, (b) blank PLGA nanoparticles, (c) PLGA-NP9-CCM-10, (d) PLGA-NP9-CCM-20.
Figure 5
Figure 5
In vitro release of curcumin loaded into PLGA nanoparticles (PLGA-NP9-CCM-10 and PLGA-NP9-CCM-20) and curcumin alone (CCM) (mean ± SD, n = 3).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Hans M.L., Lowman A.M. Biodegradable nanoparticles for drug delivery and targeting. Curr. Opin. Solid State Mater. Sci. 2002;6:319–327. doi: 10.1016/S1359-0286(02)00117-1. - DOI
    1. Crucho C.I.C., Barros M.T. Polymeric nanoparticles: A study on the preparation variables and characterization methods. Mater. Sci. Eng. C. 2017;80:771–784. doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2017.06.004. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Emerich D.F., Thanos C.G. The pinpoint promise of nanoparticle-based drug delivery and molecular diagnosis. Biomol. Eng. 2006;23:171–184. doi: 10.1016/j.bioeng.2006.05.026. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Operti M.C., Fecher D., van Dinther E.A.W., Grimm S., Jaber R., Figdor C.G., Tagit O. A comparative assessment of continuous production techniques to generate sub-micron size PLGA particles. Int. J. Pharm. 2018;550:140–148. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2018.08.044. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mohanraj V., Chen Y. Nanoparticles—A review. Trop. J. Pharm. Res. 2006;5:561–573. doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v5i1.14634. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources