Chitosan Polyelectrolyte Nanoparticles As Protein Delivery Systems

Nanoparticles with various formations were produced based on ionic gelation process between chitosan and tripolyphosphate (TPP) by using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a model drug. Their average diameter was 300-700 nm with the examination of laser granularity analyzer. The morphologies were examined with optical microscope and TEM. FTIR was used to study the structure characterization between chitosan and TPP. As the concentrations of BSA and chitosan increased, the BSA encapsulation efficiency decreased. But when the TPP concentration increased, the BSA encapsulation efficiency also increased. In addition, BSA loading capacity increased with the increasing of initial BSA concentration, but decreased with the increasing of TPP and chitosan concentrations. These results indicate that chitosan-TPP nanoparticles may become a potential delivery system for protein encapsulation.