Salicylic Acid-grafted Chitosan Oligosaccharide Nanoparticle for Paclitaxel Delivery

A hydrotropic agent, salicylic acid (SA), was grafted to chitosan oligosaccharide (CSO) backbone to develop a CSO/SA conjugate. The CSO/SA self-assembled to form nanoparticles (NPs) in aqueous medium. The sizes of the NPs were smaller as more SA was grafted and when lower molecular weight CSO was used. The ζ-potentials of all CSO/SA NPs were above 40 mV. The critical aggregation concentrations of NPs decreased from 454.79 to 164.0 μg/mL by increasing the grafted SA content or the CSO Mw. Paclitaxel (PTX)-loaded NPs were prepared by a dialysis method; the particle sizes and ζ-potentials were smaller than the blank NPs. A series of PTX-loaded CSO 28,000 /SA 50% NPs were prepared; as the size decreased or the drug content increased, the in vitro release rate increased. The in vitro cytotoxicity of blank CSO/SA NPs was determined using the MCF-7 cell line. The CSO/SA provides a new means of making a stable delivery for PTX.