Filtration of Nanostructured Lipid Carriers Using Acrodisc® Syringe Filters

Acrodisc syringe filters are finding uses beyond their initial vision as scientists take advantage of their unique features in cutting edge research

September 23, 2021

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Acrodisc® syringe filters have found a multitude of uses in a wide range of applications, they are trusted by scientists in many different fields to ensure rapid filtration and purification of critical materials. From the pre-use purification of critical raw materials to the clean-up and final filtration of finished products, Pall's Acrodisc syringe filters are relied upon to ensure that solutions contain only those components that the scientist expects, and that any other unwanted, unexpected contaminants are removed. In this multi-part blog series, we look at some of the different applications taken from recent publications that showcase the broad range of applications over which Acrodisc syringe filters are found.

 

Filtration of Nanostructured Lipid Carriers using Acrodisc

 

In a recent paper Vigne, et al., utilized the Pall Acrodisc syringe filters at two different stages in their research looking into the accumulation of Nanostructured Lipid Carriers (NLC) in atherosclerotic plaques 1.

 

Published in 2020, the researchers were employing cutting-edge techniques using NLC to enable the identification in vivo of atherosclerotic plaques in mouse arteries. The research itself is fascinating for two reasons:

 

  1. The researchers successfully demonstrated the ability of the techniques to mark the atherosclerotic plaques inside live mice, enabling detection of these plaques by non-invasive PET scanning, a tool already available to radiologists and in common usage in hospitals worldwide. Meaning that the technique they describe here could be deployed to allow the non-invasive identification of atherosclerotic plaques in humans, providing physicians with a powerful diagnostic tool.
  2. The use of NLC technology as the vehicle to deliver a marker, the copper isotope 64Cu to the plaques in a targeted fashion. NLC's are being investigated as a vehicle to transport all manner of biologically important molecules including pharmaceuticals around a patient's body and deliver their payload to a particular target tissue with very little off-target effect.
 

 

 

In their protocol Vigne, et al., make use of Acrodisc filters to ensure purity and sterility of a key raw material prior to use. The team filter the 64CuCl radiolabel they obtain from a supplier for use in the manufacture of their 64Cu chelated NLC particles, using a 0.2 µm Acrodisc 13 mm syringe filter with Supor® membrane.

 

Later in the same protocol, the researchers employ Acrodisc Ion Chromatography (IC) syringe filters to purify the finished, radio-labelled NLC particles prior to characterization, essentially a final clean-up of their diagnostic marker before QC and injection into the subject animals. For this step, the authors use a 0.2 µm Acrodisc syringe filter with a Supor PES membrane.

 

Figure 1: Acrodisc 13mm syringe filter with Supor membrane

 

Protocol takes advantage of Supor membrane’s low protein binding affinity

 

What makes this particularly interesting is that these filters are designed primarily for use in the clean-up of samples prior to Ion Chromatography, yet in this case, the authors are not performing an IC step. Instead, the authors are likely taking advantage of one of the key characteristics of the Supor membrane, namely its extremely low affinity for proteins and drug products. It is this feature of the Supor PES membrane that makes it uniquely well suited to IC prep, removing unwanted contaminants that might otherwise obscure the IC data. In the case of Vigne, et al., the authors are likely making use of this low binding affinity to clean up their precious chelated NLC-containing solution. Just another example of Acrodisc syringe filter making science easier.

 

Learn more about the characteristics of Acrodisc syringe filters and their benefits by reviewing the product range on our website.

 

References

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