(602h) Biodegradable PLA Double Emulsion Microspheres for Magnetically Guided Drug Delivery of 5FU to Tumors

This study investigated the feasibility of utilizing biodegradable polymeric microspheres loaded with the anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil (5FU) and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) to magnetically deliver the cancer therapeutic 5FU to a target tumor. The primary method of material loading consisted of a w/o/w double emulsion mechanism which 1) loads and protects 5FU in the inner water phase consisting of distilled water and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), 2) disperses SPIONs in the solvent phase consisting of biodegradable poly(lactic acid) (PLA) in dichloromethane (DCM), and 3) suspends these w/o emulsion droplets in an outer aqueous phase comprised of water and surfactant. This procedure produced double emulsion PLA microspheres smaller than 5 µm in diameter when dried, which were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Magnetometry demonstrated superparamagnetic properties of the SPIONS. The release of 5FU from these microspheres is presented. Application of these microspheres in future clinical trials may present a noninvasive, low-risk method to treating malign tumors in nonresectable regions while demonstrating more effective results than systemic administration of chemotherapy. This research presents a significant innovation in therapeutic drug delivery technology for nonresectable cancerous tumors.