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Self-assembled chitosan-alginate polyplex nanoparticles containing temoporfin

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop biocompatible polyplex nanoparticles with physicochemical properties suitable for the delivery of photosensitizer temoporfin. We prepared, characterized, and compared the two types of polyplex nanoformulations consisting of sodium alginate in combination with chitosan polymer or chitosan oligomer lactate. We obtained the polyplex system by multiple electrostatic interactions between cationic chitosan and anionic alginate and identified key process parameters. Particle size distribution, dispersity, and zeta potential were determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS), and the diameter and the morphology of the individual particles were visualized by a transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was found that size distribution of the polyplex nanoparticles depends on the concentrations of chitosan and alginate stock solutions and the order and ratio of addition of stock solutions as well as on the pH of the resulting mixture. It appears that the nanoparticles are homogeneous, although micrographs indicate some (vague, indistinct) core-shell structure. The nanoparticles are stable at pH 7.4 (pH of blood plasma) and show only very little drug leak in experiment modeling conditions of blood pool transport to target tissues.

The formation mechanism of temoporfin-loaded polyplex nanoparticles.

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Abbreviations

Alg:

Sodium alginate

D H :

Hydrodynamic diameter (nm)

DL:

Drug loading (%)

DLS:

Dynamic light scattering

EE:

Entrapment efficiency (%)

Chit:

Chitosan polymer

ChitOL:

Chitosan oligomer lactate

NPs:

Nanoparticles

PDI:

Dispersity

PDT:

Photodynamic therapy

PNPs:

Polyplex nanoparticles

PS:

Photosensitizer

SD:

Standard deviation

TEM:

Transmission electron microscopy

T-PNPs:

Temoporfin-loaded polyplex nanoparticles

UV-VIS:

Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy

ZP:

Zeta potential (mV)

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic within the LQ1604 National Sustainability Program II (Project BIOCEV-FAR) and by the project “BIOCEV” (CZ.1.05/1.1.00/02.0109). This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic grant no. LH14008 (Contact II). The author is grateful for the supports by the IGA University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, no. A1_FCHI_2016_003. The authors from Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry AS CR acknowledge financial support from Czech Science Foundation (grant no. 16-02870S) and from Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic (grant no. 15-25781a). Electron microscopy at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry was supported by project POLYMAT LO1507 (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the CR, program NPU I).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technicka 5, 166 28, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Ingrid Brezaniova & Vladimir Kral

  2. BIOCEV, Prumyslova 595, 252 50, Vestec, Czech Republic

    Ingrid Brezaniova & Vladimir Kral

  3. Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Heyrovsky sq. 2, 162 06, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Jiri Trousil, Zulfiya Cernochova, Martin Hruby, Petr Stepanek & Miroslav Slouf

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  1. Ingrid Brezaniova
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  2. Jiri Trousil
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Correspondence to Martin Hruby.

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Brezaniova, I., Trousil, J., Cernochova, Z. et al. Self-assembled chitosan-alginate polyplex nanoparticles containing temoporfin. Colloid Polym Sci 295, 1259–1270 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-016-3992-6

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