Success of the billion dollars Abraxane nanoformulation prompt research in nanotechnology. However, focusing on nano it is easy to miss something big. For example, it is very comforting to fully trust one technique, widely used and accepted by FDA for measuring particles size. And after years of work and huge investments find out.. that your particles are not what you think they are! A real story of one drug discovery company: a talented team of chemists developed a polymer-based nanoformulation, which was expected to have size under 200 nm. To control and optimize formulation process, particles size was measured by DLS system. Measurement results were in good accordance with expectations. However, animal studies were not satisfying. Investigation has shown, that number of particles in solution has size over 1 µm, and as their concentration was not high enough, they were not reported by DLS. The formulation work started form the beginning.. That is why Alpha Nano Tech recommends using cross-validation of the particles size with at least two techniques. One test with a laser diffraction instrument can give you a good idea of particles distribution with size over 1 µm.
Alpha Nano Tech will be happy to assist you with it!