(283e) Preparation of Polymeric Micro- Nano- Spheres Using a Microfluidic Approach for Delivery of Nutraeuticals

North American ginseng is a medicinal plant used in traditional herbal medicine whose root extracts are being used for commercial over the counter anti-cold formulations such as Cold-FX™. The main components of ginseng are ginsenosides and polysaccharides which provide biological activities such as anti- and pro-inflammatory effects. In this work, development of appropriate delivery systems for oral administration and bone cements was investigated, with release of bioactive and bioassay results described. Micro/nanospheres of both ginseng polysaccharide extracts and biodegradable poly (propylene fumarate) (PPF), and poly (DL-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) containing ginsenocide extracts were prepared using a microfluidic device and compared to other conventional anti-solvent techniques. The morphology and size of the carriers was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ZEISS light microscopy, and dynamic light scattering (DLS).  Depending on experimental conditions, microfluidics was found to provide unimodal spheres in the 10-50 um region or down to 20 nm with very narrow particle size distributions. Nanosized extracts were then encapsulated with gelatin, to give 180 nm spheres suitable for integration into capsules for subsequent oral drug delivery. Microsphere formation in the microfluidic system was modeled using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) while release profiles were studied and quantified by UV-Vis spectrophotometry. Results showed that the release of ginseng components was controllable with lower initial bursts than those observed with conventional microparticles. Bioassays including stimulation of cultured murine macrophages were investigated showing significant immunoactivty of extracts showing the utility of these materials for next-generation biomedical agents as controlled release devices for capsules and bone cements.