Continuous-flow microfluidic process to produce amphotericin B-loaded polymeric nanoparticles for cutaneous leishmaniasis treatment

High-flow rate 3D microfluidic devices enable controlled nanoparticles (NPs) formation, uniform size and scalable production. However, commercially available chips are expensive and difficult to manufacture. This study developed a low-cost microfluidic device using simple microfabrication techniques. NPs fabrication parameters were optimized to enhance specific characteristics such as particle size and polydispersity index (PDI). The optimized parameters to produce amphotericin B encapsulated NPs (NPs-AmB) included polymer concentration of 10 mg/mL, total flow rate (TFR) of 2000 μg/min, and flow rate ratio (FRR) of 0.225. NPs-AmB demonstrated particle size of 269.0 ± 1.0 nm and PDI of 0.138 ± 0.005. NPs-AmB showed reduced cytotoxicity to macrophages compared to free AmB and exhibited high selectivity towards Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes and amastigotes . The microfluidic device is promising to produce NPs, demonstrating scalability, in vitro safety, and promising anti-leishmanial activity for NPs-AmB. • Cost-effective PDMS microfluidic device enables scalable NPs production. •Optimized flow rate and polymer concentration yield uniform, low PDI polymeric NPs. •PLGA-based NPs effectively encapsulate Amphotericin B. •NPs-AmB exhibits reduced cytotoxicity and promising anti-leishmanial activity.