Current Advances in Chitosan Nanoparticles Based Drug Delivery and Targeting

Abstract

Nanoparticles (NPs) have been found to be potential targeted and controlled release drug delivery systems. Various drugs can be loaded in the NPs to achieve targeted delivery. Chitosan NPs being biodegradable, biocompatible, less toxic and easy to prepare, are an effective and potential tool for drug delivery. Chitosan is natural biopolymer which can be easily functionalized to obtain the desired targeted results and is also approved by GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe by the United States Food and Drug Administration [US FDA]). Various methods for preparation of chitosan NPs include, ionic cross-linking, covalent cross-linking, reverse micellar method, precipitation and emulsion-droplet coalescence method. Chitosan NPs are found to have plethora of applications in drug delivery diagnosis and other biological applications. The key applications include ocular drug delivery, per-oral delivery, pulmonary drug delivery, nasal drug delivery, mucosal drug delivery, gene delivery, buccal drug delivery, vaccine delivery, vaginal drug delivery and cancer therapy. The present review describes the formation of chitosan, synthesis of chitosan NPs and their various applications in drug delivery.

Polymer Capsules with Hydrophobic Liquid Cores as Functional Nanocarriers

“…Its hydrophilic nature ensures good solubility in acidic media due to the protonation of amino groups. The presence of surface charge and the possibility of modifying the molecule with compounds with enduring electrostatic charge promotes the use of chitosan as a material for the construction of multilayer polymer films, coatings preserving cells during storage at low temperature, genes, proteins, drugs, and contrast agents carriers [ 84 , 85 ]. Numerous studies have also been carried out using modified chitosan to obtain injectable gels capable of transporting drugs.…”

Particles Containing Cells as a Strategy to Promote Remyelination in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis

“…Chitosan particles are biodegradable, biocompatible, and stable, with low toxicity, and are soluble in aqueous acid solutions (78,79). While many routes of administration are available (80), nasal administration allows passage to the brain (81), and has been used for such drugs as anti-LINGO-1 (82), teriflunomide (83), and carbamazepine (84). Nasal administration of chitosan hydrogel has been used as a treatment for Alzheimer disease or biomedical applications in the CNS (85,86).…”

Chitosan Contribution to Therapeutic and Vaccinal Approaches for the Control of Leishmaniasis

“…In addition, the immunostimulatory activity of chitosan with its capacity to induce Th1 cell responses could also be valorized in the field of antileishmanial chemotherapy [ 20 ]. According to the Food Drug Association (FDA), chitosan is a non-toxic, biodegradable, and biocompatible substance [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. This enables chitosan also to be used to as drug delivery vehicle, either parenterally or integrated in drug formulations for topical use [ 25 ].…”