Figure 3
From: Rapid purification of sub-micrometer particles for enhanced drug release and microvesicles isolation
Tunable size fractionation of drug-loaded PLGA MPs using HiDFF. The average fluorescent composite images and separation performance of smaller particles for different sample conditions: sheath flow ratio for (a) 2 μm and 3 μm binary bead mixtures. (b) 1 μm and 2 μm binary bead mixtures. Yellow dotted lines indicate the positions of the channel outlet bifurcation. The data are presented as the mean±s.d. from n=4. **P<0.01 vs control (1:5). (c) Size distribution plot of the PLGA MPs after the two-step HiDFF separation into three sizes (large (>5 μm), medium (2–5 μm) and small (<2 μm)). Inset SEM images highlight the distinct size differences between samples (inlet) and different size groups. (d) The drug release profile of the fractionated PTX-loaded PLGA MPs. (e) The cell proliferation (cell counting kit-8) assay on breast cancer cells (MCF-7) incubated with PTX-loaded PLGA MPs. Inset plot indicates a significant decrease in the relative optical density (OD) for the smallest particle size group. The data are presented as the mean±s.d. from n=3. *P<0.05 and **P<0.01 vs unsorted.
