Technical aspects of preparing PEG-PLGA nanoparticles as carrier for chemotherapeutic agents by nanoprecipitation method

Nanoprecipitation is a simple and increasingly trending method for nanoparticles preparation. The self-assembly feature of poly (ethylene glycol)-poly (lactide-co-glycolic acid) (PEG-PLGA) amphiphilic copolymer into a nanoparticle and its versatile structure makes nanoprecipitation one of the best methods for its preparation. The aim of this study is to review currently available literature for standard preparation of PEG-PLGA nanoparticles using nanoprecipitation technique in order to draw conclusive evidenceto draw conclusive evidence that can guide researchers during formulation development. To achieve this, three databases (Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed) were searched using relevant keywords and the extracted articles were reviewed based on defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data extraction and narrative analysis of the obtained literature was performed when appropriate, along with our laboratory observations to support those claims wherever necessary. As a result of this analysis, reports that matched our criteria conformed to the general facts about nanoprecipitation techniques such as simplicity in procedure, low surfactants requirement, narrow size distribution, and low resulting concentrations. However, these reports showed interesting advantages for using PEG-PLGA as they are frequently reported to be freezedried and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) with low hydrophobicity were reported to successfully be encapsulated in the particles.