6 – Chitosan and Cellulose Particles for Drug Sequestration

• Main Author: Chakraborty, Soma
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2022
• Subjects: Chitosan; Cellulose; Microparticles; Nanoparticles; Propafenone; Amitriptyline; Chemistry; Medicinal-Pharmaceutical Chemistry
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/chemistry-faculty-pubs/172; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128223512000164
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Drug intoxication developed due to excess consumption of a drug is a serious health problem and can be life threatening. Apart from the existing methods, novel methods to attenuate drug overdose are also continuously being developed. One such exploration is the use of micron and nanosize cellulose and chitosan as sequestrant for drug. Chitosan microparticles were synthesized by crosslinking chitosan and glycidyl trimethylammonium chloride modified chitosan. The reaction took place inside the reverse micelles formed by Span and Tween 80. The particles were of uniform size with the average diameter of 10 µm. The particles sequestered free propafenone from a buffer solution of pH 7.4. In 20 min unmodified chitosan and modified chitosan microparticles sequestered 53% and 51.5% of the free drug, respectively. The amount of drug sequestered increased with increase in the initial free drug concentration. The presence of normal saline also improved propafenone sequestration. Commercially available cellulose microparticles were reduced to nanoparticles by acid hydrolysis and their ability to sequester amitriptyline from a buffer solution of pH 7.4 was compared. After 30 min of equilibration of these particles with free drug solution, nanocellulose sequestered 54% of the drug, while microcellulose sequestered 52% drug. Sequestration efficacy improved further when κ-carrageenan was grafted on cellulose nanoparticles.