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Abstract Nanocarrier and exosome encapsulation has been found to significantly increase the efficacy of targeted drug delivery while also minimizing unwanted side effects. However, the development of exosome-encapsulated drug nanocarriers is limited by low drug loading efficiencies and/or complex, time-consuming drug loading processes. Herein, we have developed an acoustofluidic device that simultaneously performs both drug loading and exosome encapsulation. By synergistically leveraging the acoustic radiation force, acoustic microstreaming, and shear stresses in a rotating droplet, the concentration, and fusion of exosomes, drugs, and porous silica nanoparticles is achieved. The final product consists of drug-loaded silica nanocarriers that are encased within an exosomal membrane. The drug loading efficiency is significantly improved, with nearly 30% of the free drug (e.g., doxorubicin) molecules loaded into the nanocarriers. Furthermore, this acoustofluidic drug loading system circumvents the need for complex chemical modification, allowing drug loading and encapsulation to be completed within a matter of minutes. These exosome-encapsulated nanocarriers exhibit excellent efficiency in intracellular transport and are capable of significantly inhibiting tumor cell proliferation. By utilizing physical forces to rapidly generate hybrid nanocarriers, this acoustofluidic drug loading platform wields the potential to significantly impact innovation in both drug delivery research and applications.
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Cell lysis via acoustically oscillating sharp edges
In this article, we demonstrate an acoustofluidic device for cell lysis using the acoustic streaming effects induced by acoustically oscillating sharp-edged structures. The acoustic streaming locally generates high shear forces that can mechanically rupture cell membranes. With the acoustic-streaming-derived shear forces, our acoustofluidic device can perform cell lysis in a continuous, reagent-free manner, with a lysis efficiency of more than 90% over a range of sample flow rates. We demonstrate that our acoustofluidic lysis device works well on both adherent and non-adherent cells. We also validate it using clinically relevant samples such as red blood cells infected with malarial parasites. Additionally, the unique capability of our acoustofluidic device was demonstrated by performing downstream protein analysis and gene profiling without additional washing steps post-lysis. Our device is simple to fabricate and operate while consuming a relatively low volume of samples. These advantages and other features including the reagent-free nature and controllable lysis efficiency make our platform valuable for many biological and biomedical applications, particularly for the development of point-of-care platforms.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1807601
- PAR ID:
- 10172979
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Lab on a Chip
- Volume:
- 19
- Issue:
- 24
- ISSN:
- 1473-0197
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 4021 to 4032
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1039/C9LC00498J
