sustained release of 5-fluorouracil from chitosan oligosaccharide-deesterifiedtragacanth core-shell nanoparticles

a great challenge in using natural polysaccharide as drug delivery system is their fast drug release. the purpose of the present study was to prepare and evaluate chitosan oligosaccharide (cho)-de-estrifiedtragacanth (det) core-shell nanoparticles for controled release of water soluble drugs. cho-det nanoparticles were prepared by microemulsion method and characterized by ft-ir spectroscopy. size, zeta potential, loading efficacy, and in vitro drug release were also investigated. morphology of nanoparticles was evaluated by the scanning electron microscopy. the optimum particles with an average size of 400 nm were prepared. loading efficacy of nanoparticles in drug/polymer ratios of 1/3.5 and 1/5 was 18.88 ± 3.95 and 17.55 ± 2.13. at the ratio of 1/5, release of 5-fu was sustained and less than 25% of drug was released at ph 7.4 and 11.14% of 5-fu was released at ph 1.5. at ratio of 1/3.5, release rate was faster than ratio of 1/5, and more than 30% of drug was released after 22 h at ph 7.4. drug release for this ratio was 29.14% at stomach ph. these phenomena make cho-det core-shell nanoparticles as a great candidate for controlled drug delivery system specially for colon targeted delivery where bacterial flora cleave polysaccharides and release their drug content in colon region.