Alginate nanoparticles coated with chitosan-loaded PLGA microparticles for a delivery of hydrophilic drug

• Main Author: Ang, Jing Wen
• Other Authors: Loo Say Chye Joachim
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66617
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Drug delivery is the transportation of pharmaceutical compounds in the body to attain its therapeutic effect in the patient. Traditional drug delivery systems often require continual drug administration, which can lead to fluctuation in the plasma levels and also stimulate toxic reactions. Thus, the purpose of this project is to develop a microcapsule system with drug-loaded nanoparticles encapsulated, to release drug in a controlled and sustained manner with different release profiles of the drug that can be altered by the selection of materials. Alginate and chitosan are used as main materials for fabrication of nanoparticles, while Poly (DL-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) is used for microcapsule. The fabrication was done by emulsion solvent evaporation through stirring and the end product was obtained for drug release studies. Nanoparticles were characterized in terms of average size, polydispersity index (PDI), zeta potential and Metoprolol Tartrate entrapment efficiency. The samples showed a relatively controlled and sustained release with an encapsulation efficiency of 65.2 ± 3.7% when stimulated in vitro using buffer solution of pH 7.4. Encapsulation was proved successful using qualitative imaging of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM). Through this proposed drug delivery system, controlled release profiles can be achieved. However, future works like encapsulating multiple drugs and also in vivo studies can further enhance this project.