Optimization of parameters for the fabrication of gelatin nanoparticles by the Taguchi robust design method

The Taguchi method is a statistical approach to overcome the limitation of the factorial and fractional factorial experiments by simplifying and standardizing the fractional factorial design. The objective of this study was to optimize the fabrication of gelatin nanoparticles by applying the Taguchi design method. Gelatin nanoparticles have been extensively studied in our previous works as an appropriate carrier for drug delivery, since they are biodegradable, non-toxic, are not usually contaminated with pyrogens and possess relatively low antigenicity. Taguchi method with L₁₆ orthogonal array robust design was implemented to optimize experimental conditions of the purpose. Four key process parameters – temperature, gelatin concentration, agitation speed and the amount of acetone – were considered for the optimization of gelatin nanoparticles. As a result of Taguchi analysis in this study, temperature and amount of acetone were the most influencing parameters of the particle size. For characterizing the nanoparticle sample, atomic force microscope and scanning electron microscope were employed. In this study, a minimum size of gelatin nanoparticles was obtained at 50 °C temperature, 45 mg/ml gelatin concentration, 80 ml acetone and 700 rpm agitation speed. The nanoparticle size at the determined condition was less than 174 nm.