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Article
Size-Dependent Nanoparticle Margination and Adhesion Propensity in a Microchannel
Journal of Nanotechnology in Engineering and Medicine (2013)
  • Patrick Jurney, University of Texas at Austin
  • Rachit Agarwal, University of Texas at Austin
  • Vikramjit Singh, University of Texas at Austin
  • Krishnendu Roy, University of Texas at Austin
  • S. V. Sreenivasan, University of Texas at Austin
  • Li Shi, University of Texas at Austin
Abstract
Intravenous injection of nanoparticles as drug delivery vehicles is a common practice in clinical trials of therapeutic agents to target specific cancerous or pathogenic sites. The vascular flow dynamics of nanocarriers (NCs) in human microcapillaries play an important role in the ultimate efficacy of this drug delivery method. This article reports an experimental study of the effect of nanoparticle size on their margination and adhesion propensity in microfluidic channels of a half-elliptical cross section. Spherical polystyrene particles ranging in diameter from 60 to 970 nm were flown in the microchannels and individual particles adhered to either the top or bottom wall of the channel were imaged using fluorescence microscopy. When the number concentration of particles in the flow was kept constant, the percentage of nanoparticles adhered to the top wall increased with decreasing diameter (d), with the number of particles adhered to the top wall following a d−3 trend. When the volume concentration of particles in solution was kept constant, no discernible trend was found. This experimental finding is explained by the competition between the Brownian force promoting margination and repulsive particle–particle electrostatic forces retarding adhesion to the wall. The 970 nm particles were found to adhere to the bottom wall much more than to the top wall for each of the three physiologically relevant shear rates tested, revealing the effect of gravitational force on the large particles. These findings on the flow behavior of spherical nanoparticles in artificial microcapillaries provide further insight for the rational design of NCs for targeted cancer therapeutics.
Publication Date
August, 2013
DOI
10.1115/1.4025609
Publisher Statement
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Citation Information
Patrick Jurney, Rachit Agarwal, Vikramjit Singh, Krishnendu Roy, et al.. "Size-Dependent Nanoparticle Margination and Adhesion Propensity in a Microchannel" Journal of Nanotechnology in Engineering and Medicine Vol. 4 Iss. 3 (2013)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/patrick-jurney/5/