Amphiphilic Self-assembled Nanoparticles Composed of Chitosan and Ursolic Acid for Protein Delivery on the Skin

Nano-sized polymeric amphiphilic micelle was prepared using the hydrophilic polysaccharide, oligo-chitosan, and hydrophobic side chains, ursolic acid which assists the skin penetration, because the amphiphilic polysaccharide nanoparticles have been widely investigated as the carriers for active agents such as small molecules, proteins, peptides, and nucleic acids due to many advantages in protection, transport and delivery of active agents. The bovine serum albumin was used as the model agents for the encapsulation into the polymeric particles. The particles showed the pHsensitive in the size and protein entrapment. At pH-3, the nanoparticle size increased due to the amino-groups of chitosan chain. In addition, the protein entrapment also increased with particle size. To enhance the stability of nanoparticles, the nanoparticle surface consisting of chitosan was cross-linked with glutaaldehyde. Thus chitosan-ursolic acid can be useful as carriers for active agents.