(498g) Responsive Foams for Nanoparticle Delivery

Chang Tian¹, Christina Tang², Antoinette Nelson³, Jennifer Holloway³, Patrick J. Sinko³, Robert K. Prud’homme¹

¹ Princeton University, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton, NJ, 08540

² Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering,

Richmond, VA 23284

³ Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, School of Pharmacy, Piscataway Township, NJ 08854

Foams are attractive vehicles to deliver nanoparticle therapeutics since they can distribute nanoparticles over a large surface area with minimal liquid residue. We have developed two responsive foams to achieve rectal delivery of nanoparticles. Those foams are easy to apply, stable and room temperature and can be engineered to break in response to temperature or moisture. The temperature-responsive foams form and break based on the Pickering emulsion and phase transition of long chain alcohols. The moisture-responsive foam expands due to a reaction between sodium bicarbonate and citric acid, and breaks based on a surfactant dilution and destabilization of foam interfaces. Various in vivo experiments were performed to examine rectal delivery of nanoparticles by those foams. We encapsulated near-IR dyes inside the nanoparticles through Flash NanoPrecipitation (FNP) to record the coverage of nanoparticles inside mouse colon, using FX PRO molecular imaging system. In addition, introducing lanthanides inside nanoparticles provides a way to monitor nanoparticle retention in the GI tract by ICP-MS.