Real-time monitoring of a reagent release from an optically trapped biodegradable micro-particle for drug delivery

摘要

Biodegradable poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microparticles are representative drug delivery carriers. Although it is important to understand detailed relationships between a drug release mechanism and their properties such as size and shape, analysis for an individual particle has been much difficult due to thermal fluctuations. In the present study, we performed optical trapping of a single PLGA microparticle for real-time monitoring of a reagent release from the particle by means of fluorescence microspectroscopy. We successfully monitored a fluorescence decay of an optically trapped PLGA microparticle. This decay process should reflect a reagent release from the microparticle. Our real-time monitoring method will be a powerful tool for designing an optimized drug delivery system.