Ricardo J. B. Pinto

Biopolymeric nanoparticles (NPs) have gained significant attention in several areas as an alternative to synthetic polymeric NPs due to growing environmental and immunological concerns. Among the most promising biopolymers is poly(lactic acid) (PLA), with a reported high degree of biocompatibility and biodegradability. In this work, PLA NPs were synthesized according to a controlled gelation process using a combination of single-emulsion and nanoprecipitation methods. This study evaluated the influence of several experimental parameters for accurate control of the PLA NPs’ size distribution and aggregation. Tip sonication (as the stirring method), a PLA concentration of 10 mg/mL, a PVA concentration of 2.5 mg/mL, and low-molecular-weight PLA (Mw = 5000) were established as the best experimental conditions to obtain monodisperse PLA NPs. After gelification process optimization, flutamide (FLU) was used as a model drug to evaluate the encapsulation capability of the PLA NPs. The results showed an encapsulation efficiency of 44% for this cytostatic compound. Furthermore, preliminary cell viability tests showed that the FLU@PLA NPs allowed cell viabilities above 90% up to a concentration of 20 mg/L. The comprehensive findings showcase that the PLA NPs fabricated using this straightforward gelification method hold promise for encapsulating cytostatic compounds, offering a novel avenue for precise drug delivery in cancer therapy.