Preparation and Characterization of Large Unilamellar Vesicles Mixed With Trimethylchitosan (TMC): The Effect of Polyelectrolyte Concentration

Abstract

Background: The effect of different concentrations of the absorption enhancer Trimethyl Chitosan (TMC) to the physicochemical properties of Large Unilamellar Vesicles (LUV) comprised of L-a-Phospahtidyl Choline (PC) were investigated in the current study. Methods: The Degree of Quartenization (DQ) of trimethylchitosan was assessed with nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR). The vesicles were characterized by means of Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), ζ-potential, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Contact Angle Goniometry (CAG) measurements. Results: The data showed that the surface charge of the PC liposomes was significantly altered as a function of the TMC concentration, giving evidence of presence of the polyelectrolyte to the liposome’s membrane. Varying the concentration of TMC affected the phase Transition Temperature (Tm) of the lipid, verifying the miscibility of the polyelectrolyte with the lipid bilayer. The association of the polymer with the liposomes was related to the amount of the polyelectrolyte present, reflecting changes to the wettability of the dispersion as measured by CAG. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that presence of TMC significantly modified the physical properties of liposomes. Such systems might have a potential use for mucosal delivery (e.g. nasal route of administration).

Assessment of Nasal-Brain-Targeting Efficiency of New Developed Mucoadhesive Emulsomes Encapsulating an Anti-Migraine Drug for Effective Treatment of One of the Major Psychiatric Disorders Symptoms

“…Figure 2 illustrates the response surface plots for the effects of the investigated variables on various responses. Higher ZP values observed after increasing the amount of TMC confirm the incorporation of the polyelectrolyte (TMC) in the vesicles' structure, more possibly as a layer on the surface of the vesicles [49].…”

Quantifying interfacial substrate interactions via surface energy analyses

“…The SEM demonstrates that there is a 95% confidence that mean of the contact angle measurements will be within 1.4° of the standard deviation of the sample set having relatively large contact angles. Comparing contact angle measurements using differing substrates and two different static contact angle goniometers with average SEMs of 2.42° and 1.08°, the reliability of contact angle measurements acquired via this protocol indicates accurate contact angle determination ( Boo et al., 2018 ; Van Der Merwe et al., 2018 ).…”

“…The larger data set will often mitigate the inconsistency in the contact angle measurements. If the SEM is no larger than ±2–3°, the contact angle data should yield reasonable surface energies, especially since reported high quality goniometric data have similar reported error ( Boo et al., 2018 ; Van Der Merwe et al., 2018 ).…”