Mechanical Properties of Nanoparticles in the Drug Delivery Kinetics

Nanoparticle formulation is a recently developed drug delivery technology with enhanced targeting potential. Nanoparticles encapsulate the drug of choice and delivers it to the target via a targeting molecules (ex. antigen) located on the nanoparticle surface. Nanoparticles can even be targeted to deeply penetrating tissue and can be modeled to deliver drugs through the blood brain barrier. These advancements are providing better disease targeting such as to cancer and Alzheimer’s. Various polymers can be manufactured into nanoparticles. The polymers examined in this paper are polycaprolactone (PCL), poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), and poly(glycolic acid) (PGA). The purpose of this study is to analyze the mechanical properties of these polymers to establish drug delivery trends and model pharmacokinetics and biotransport. We found that, in general, as the melting point, elastic modulus and tensile strength increases, the degradation rate also increases. PLA composite material may be an ideal polymer for drug delivery due to its good control of degradation.