Analytical Sciences

Abstract − Analytical Sciences, 32(12), 1307 (2016).

A Membrane-integrated Microfluidic Device to Study Permeation of Nanoparticles through Straight Micropores toward Rational Design of Nanomedicines
Naoki SASAKI,*1,*2 Mariko TATANOU,*1 Tomoko SUZUKI,*1 Yasutaka ANRAKU,*3 Akihiro KISHIMURA,*3,*4,*5 Kazunori KATAOKA,*3 and Kae SATO*1
*1 Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Japan Women’s University, 2-8-1 Mejirodai, Bunkyo, Tokyo 112-8681, Japan
*2 Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Toyo University, 2100 Kujirai, Kawagoe, Saitama 350-8585, Japan
*3 Department of Materials Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
*4 Center for Molecular Systems, Kyushu University, 744 Moto-oka, Nishi, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
*5 Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Moto-oka, Nishi, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
Nanoparticles have been widely utilized to deliver drugs from blood vessels to target tissues. A crucial issue concerning nanoparticle-based drug delivery is to discuss the relationship between experimentally-obtained permeability and physical parameters. Although nanoparticles can permeate vascular pores, because the size and shape of the pores are essentially non-uniform, conventional animal testing and recent cell-based microfluidic devices are unable to precisely evaluate the effects of physical parameters (e.g. pore size and nanoparticle size) on permeation. In this study, we present a membrane-integrated microfluidic device to study permeation of nanoparticles through straight micropores. Porous membranes possessing uniform straight pores were utilized. The effects of pore size and pressure difference across the pores on nanoparticle permeation were examined. The experimentally determined permeability coefficient of 1.0 μm-pore membrane against 100 nm-diameter nanoparticles agreed well with the theoretical value obtained for convectional permeation. Our method can be utilized to clarify the relationship between the experimentally-obtained permeability and physical parameters, and will help rational design of nanomedicines.