Investigation on PBCA drug carrier system with the application of dissipative particle dynamics

• Main Author: How, Hock Seng.
• Other Authors: Kwak Sang Kyu
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Chemical engineering::Biotechnology; DRNTU::Science::Medicine::Optical instruments
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/39678
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The strength of a drug carrier system is greatly reflected in its pharmacokinetics over the conventional preparations. Its usage is important in particular for the delivery of vulnerable biotechnologically-derived therapeutic substances into human body. Over the past few decades, a lot of experiments have been conducted to investigate the properties and structures of drug carrier systems, which aim to improve their performance. However, it is rather costly and difficult for researchers to investigate the transformation of micro or nano-scale drug carrier system by experiments. In this project, dissipative particle dynamics simulation has been applied to investigate the formation of poly (butyl-cyanoacrylate) (PBCA) drug carrier system. The structure of PBCA drug carrier system derived from DPD simulation is found to be in good consistency with the structure determined from NMR analysis. This implies that DPD simulation could be a reliable supplementary tool in the study of drug carrier system. Besides, the structure transitions of PBCA drug carrier system under different conditions have been simulated which aims to provide guidance for practical preparation of PBCA drug carrier particles. Moreover, the deficiency of the DPD simulation approach being employed in the project has been discussed. Several suggestions have been given to improve the application of DPD simulation in the study of drug carrier system in future work.