Synthesis of Monodisperse Chitosan Nanoparticles and in Situ Drug Loading Using Active Microreactor

Abstract

Chitosan nanoparticles are promising drug delivery vehicles. However, the conventional method of unregulated mixing during ionic gelation limits their application because of heterogeneity in size and physicochemical properties. Therefore, a detailed theoretical analysis of conventional and active microreactor models was simulated. This led to design and fabrication of a polydimethylsiloxane microreactor with magnetic micro needles for the synthesis of monodisperse chitosan nanoparticles. Chitosan nanoparticles synthesized conventionally, using 0.5 mg/mL chitosan, were 250 ± 27 nm with +29.8 ± 8 mV charge. Using similar parameters, the microreactor yielded small size particles (154 ± 20 nm) at optimized flow rate of 400 μL/min. Further optimization at 0.4 mg/mL chitosan concentration yielded particles (130 ± 9 nm) with higher charge (+39.8 ± 5 mV). The well-controlled microreactor-based mixing generated highly monodisperse particles with tunable properties including antifungal drug entrapment (80%), release rate, and effective activity (MIC, 1 μg/mL) against Candida.

Molecular simulation and in vitro evaluation of chitosan nanoparticles as drug delivery systems for the controlled release of anticancer drug cytarabine against solid tumours

“…The prepared nanoformulation was evaluated for haemocompatibility using haemolysis assay and RBC aggregation. According to Standard Practice for Assessment of Hemolytic Properties of Materials from the American Society for testing and Materials (ASTM756, 2000), materials are classified as nonhemolytic (0-2% of hemolysis), slightly hemolytic (2-5% of hemolysis) and hemolytic (above 5% of hemolysis) (Kamat et al 2015). The hemolysis percentage for chitosan nanoparticles was found to be 0.019 ± 0.006% which indicates the prepared nanoformulation was nonhemolytic.…”

Study on Fabrication of Antibacterial Low Molecular Weight Nanochitosan Using Sodium Tripolyphosphate and Hydrogen Peroxide

“…e potential to use chitosan in various fields such as antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antacid, nontoxic, biodegradable, and biocompatible with animal and plant tissues, also such as membrane formation, has attracted strong interest for developments in the field of biomedicine [2]. Nanochitosan is prepared in many different ways, such as creating covalent and ionic bonds.…”

Microfluidic Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery

“…[124] Chitosan NPs can be produced using a range of methods including ionic gelation, chemical cross-linking, and microfluidic methods. [126] The staggered herringbone micromixer, [127,128] microreactor with circular channels and chamber, [129] and HFF devices have been used to synthesize chitosan NPs. Sodium tripolyphosphate is a commonly used chitosan cross-linker, and the ionic gelation reaction between sodium tripolyphosphate and chitosan can be exploited by microfluidic methods to form chitosan NPs for biomedical applications.…”