Design of Nanoparticles Loaded Acyclovir for Controlled Delivery System

The aim of this research was to develop a new drug release systems based on Nanoparticles. In this study, the natural polymer chitosan was used for preparation of nanoparticles due to its unique properties, such as biocompatibility and biodegradability. The polymeric nano-drug controlled release system has been designed with experimental design D-optimal response surface methodology, for varied variables such as the concentration of acyclovir, concentration ratio of chitosan/ TPP and pH using the ionic gelation method. The nanoparticles were characterized morphologically by scanning electron microcopy (SEM), particle size analyser (DLS) for determining size, zeta and PdI, Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) Spectroscopy for determination of structure of nanoparticlesand thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA)for studying thermal behavior. The optimized nanoparticles were characterized. The size of the particles was detected to be 132±24.3 nm; zeta potential was 32±2.87 mV; PdI of particles was 0.159±0.05; and calculated EE% was 85±4.38%. An in-vitro release study of the prepared nanoparticles illustrated that the percentage of acyclovir released from the nanoparticles was 80.17±2.45% within 48 hrs. The optimized nanoparticles according to SEM image, exhibited segregated and non-aggregated nanoparticles with sub-spherical smooth morphology and also the high thermal stability of acyclovir nanoparticles at temperature up to 200°C due to TGA analysis, which indicated a well-established structure of nanoparticles.