Fabrication of uniform biodegradable microcages with predesigned shape printed from microarrays for sustained release of small hydrophilic molecules

Abstract

Drug delivery vehicles have aroused increasing attention over the years due to their ability to protect and control the release of encapsulated cargo. However, several challenges significantly limit their wide applications including poor size distribution, uncontrollable size and shape, and leakage of loaded small hydrophilic cargos. This work introduces a novel and scalable microarray-based printing technique for preparing uniform biodegradable “microcages” with predesigned shapes for encapsulating and controlling the release of small hydrophilic molecules. The drugs encapsulated in the microcage are centrally located within solid microparticles without being exposed to the surface or dispersed throughout the polymer matrix. Here, 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein (CF) as a small and hydrophilic model drug are successfully loaded into polylactide acid (PLA) microcages with the dry loading method. Additionally, blending polycaprolactone (PCL) with PLA increases the permeability of the microcage polymer shells for controlled release. A higher PCL content results in a faster release rate of the encapsulated drug. Approximately 28 pg of CF particles can be encapsulated within individual microcages. This microcage printing technique provides a novel, scalable method for producing uniform biodegradable microcages, extending microprinting beyond microfilms and microparticles. A unique dry loading approach, independent of drug solubility, further broadens its utility for diverse biomedical applications.

Graphical abstract: Fabrication of uniform biodegradable microcages with predesigned shape printed from microarrays for sustained release of small hydrophilic molecules

Supplementary files

Transparent peer review

To support increased transparency, we offer authors the option to publish the peer review history alongside their article.

View this article’s peer review history

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 Jan 2025
Accepted
22 May 2025
First published
27 May 2025
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Biomater. Sci., 2025, Advance Article

Fabrication of uniform biodegradable microcages with predesigned shape printed from microarrays for sustained release of small hydrophilic molecules

J. Zhang, R. Sun, V. Kudryavtseva, D. J. Gould and G. B. Sukhorukov, Biomater. Sci., 2025, Advance Article , DOI: 10.1039/D5BM00154D

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements