The design and preparation of fluorescent labeled chitosan nanoparticles for intestinal delivery

Chitosan is a biodegradable, biocompatible polymer regarded as safe for human dietary. Nanoparticles (NP) prepared with chitosan derivatives typically possess a positive surface charge and mucoadhesive properties such that can adhere to mucus membranes and release the drug payload in a sustained release manner. Current study is focused on preparation several kinds of chitosan formulations and different concentrations of cross linking agents in various conditions and characterization for achievement of most stable and biocompatible nanoparticle which labeled by FITC for in vitro tracking.
Analysis

In order to better investigate, in addition to chitosan, carboxymethyl chitosan was used. Preparation of chitosan nanoparticles is done by Ionotropic gelation method using different concentration of sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) as cross-linking agent. Moreover, the synthesis of FITC-labeled chitosan at a combination of time, pH, different concentrations of salt and enzyme was investigated to produce stable nanoparticles for intestinal drug delivery. Physical characterization of nanoparticles were estimated by DLS and TEM as well as conjugation and covalent links were confirmed by FITR.

The size of the nanoparticles by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was about 100±50.Hydrodynamic diameter was measured by DLS around 150±50 nm. In FTIR, covalent conjugation to the chitosan nanoparticles with control samples was confirmed. UV spectroscopy was used to determine the efficiency of conjugation which was over 70%.

All of these findings favor the notion that the FITC conjugated chitosan nanoparticles produced in our work may offer promise for the development of an efficient therapeutic and diagnosis carrier for colon cancer in the future. However, further investigation is required to provide more evidence on different aspects of the targeting activity and stability of this nanoparticle in in vivo.