RECENT ADVANCES IN MICROFLUIDICS FOR THE PREPARATION OF DRUG AND GENE DELIVERY SYSTEMS

Drug delivery systems have great potential for improving the treatment of several diseases especially, microbial infections and cancers. Microfluidic technologies have emerged as an alternative to conventional methods to address issues like reducing batch to batch variation and enhancing production rate. The platform of microfluidics offers a precise control an d manipulation over fluids at a small scale and therefore has gained much attention in recent times. This topic is currently applied to automation and high throughput analysis in several areas, including extraction of DNA, RNA and proteins, gene identification, gene assembly, cloning, single cell analysis, organs grow on chips, PCR, drug screening, toxicity testing and drug delivery. This review discusses the recent technological process, outcomes and available opportunities for the usage of microfluidics systems in drug delivery systems.

Keywords: Microfluidics; Drug delivery systems; Nanocarriers; Liposomes; Polymeric nanoparticles; Inorganic nanoparticles; Gene delivery; Droplet-based microfluidics; Controlled release; Lab-on-chip technology.