Importance of surface area of nanoparticles in drug delivery

Submitted To Dr. S. Kannan Assistant Professor Center for Nanonoscience & Technology

Presented By Prashant Kumar M.Tech.3rd Sem Center for Nanonoscience & Technology

Effect of surface area

Due to their small size, nanoparticles exhibit interesting properties, making them suitable for a variety of drug delivery applications The number of molecules present on a particle surface increases as the particle size decreases. For a spherical solid particle of diameter d, surface area per unit mass, Sg, is given as

(1) Where s = solid density

2 3 -1 ( )( ) =3/2ds 4 6

If the molecular diameter is , then the percentage of molecules on the surface monolayer is given as

%Surface molecules

=
2

4 3

3
4 3

100

= 100[

+ 3(/)]..(2)

For a typical lowmolecular weight drug molecule of 1-nm diameter, %surface molecules are calculated in Table 2.

It is interesting to see that for a 10,000nm (or 10-mm) particle, a very small percentage of the molecules are present on the surface. Hence, the dissolution rate is much lower for the microparticles when compared to nanoparticles When the particles are of nanometer length scale, surface irregularities can play an important role in adhesion, as the irregularities may be of the same order as the particles .

Nanoparticles can show a strong adhesion because of the increased contact area for van der Waals attraction. Lamprecht et al. observed differential uptake/adhesion of polystyrene particle to inflamed colonic mucosa, with the deposition 5.2%, 9.1%, and 14.5% for 10-mm, 1000-nm, and 100-nm particles, respectively.

Thank You