Study of the interactions of polymeric nanoparticles with model lung surfactant

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Weiam Daear, Patrick Lai and Elmar J Prenner

University of Calgary, Canada

: J Pharm Drug Deliv Res

Abstract

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The pulmonary route offers many advantages for drug delivery such as the high surface area and the close proximity to the blood circulation. The air-blood barrier of the alveoli in the lungs is around 500 nm thick. Above the epithelium cells of the alveoli lies a thin aqueous layer with a thickness of 50-80 nm. A monolayer of phospholipids, natural lipids and few proteins called the lung surfactant (LS) adsorbs onto this aqueous film. The major phospholipid classes include phosphatidylcholines and phosphatidylglycerols. One of the main roles of the LS is to reduce the surface tension experienced in the lungs during breathing cycles in order to prevent lung collapse. From the perspective of pulmonary drug delivery, the LS is the first point of interaction for the drug carriers. With the advancements of nanomedicine, nanoparticles (NPs) became highly relevant as novel drug delivery systems. In particular, there is a great scientific interest for the use of biodegradable NPs for pulmonary delivery route. The objective of our work is to develop a biomimetic model of the LS and then study the effects upon interaction with NPs. Therefore, we focused on understanding the mechanism of interaction between biodegradable polymeric NPs with the biomimetic model of the LS and test whether the stability and lateral architecture of LS is affected. These measurements are done by using Langmuir monolayers at the airwater interface and imaged using Brewster angle microscopy. Results showed that the film stability upon compression is not affected, but there are significant changes in the lateral domain organization of the LS upon NP addition. This work is significant because it helps understand the mechanism of NP-LS interaction and will provide an in-vitro screening approach to assess nanotoxicology.

Biography

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Weiam Daear is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Calgary, Canada. She has two publications so far in peer reviewed journals (J. Phys. Chem. B. and Colloids Surf. B). She has a BSc in Biological Sciences with a minor in Manoscience.

Email: wtdaear@ucalgary.ca