Biophysical analysis on the interaction of polymeric nanoparticles with biomimetic models of the human lung surfactant
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2019-11
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Abstract
The human body offers many paths that could be used for drug delivery. The pulmonary route, which is delivery through the lungs, provides many advantages such as; 1) direct access to the lungs and blood circulation and 2) large surface area with a thin barrier of about 500 nm thick. These advantages, in addition to increased patient compliance with inhaled medications, have sparked interest in this route in the field of nanomedicine. Nanoparticles are drug delivery vehicles with many advantages over conventional drug delivery methods. These include the high surface area to volume ratio due to their small size and potential for specific targeting. In the pulmonary route, the air blood barrier is composed of three main layers. The top layer or first point of interaction is through the lung surfactant (LS). This monolayer is composed of 90% lipids and 10% proteins. The lung surfactant’s major role is to reduce surface tension experienced in the lung during breathing cycles in order to prevent lung collapse. Therefore, if nanoparticles are to pass through this monolayer, effects on its stability need to be assessed. In this thesis, a biomimetic model of the LS is developed and its interaction with two biodegradable and biocompatible nanoparticles is tested. Biophysical analysis on the interaction includes the use of Langmuir monolayer pressure-area isotherms, surface potential measurements and visualization through Brewster angle microscopy. Results show that interactions and effects on monolayer elasticity are strongly dependent on electrostatic interactions, charge density of the monolayer, lipid headgroup structure and acyl chain saturation.
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Daear, W. (2019). Biophysical analysis on the interaction of polymeric nanoparticles with biomimetic models of the human lung surfactant (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.