Nanoparticles.

Hepatic targeting of Concanavalin A appended myristoyl chitosan nanoparticles containing Epirubicin. Myristoyl chitosan was synthesised by reacting native chitosan with myristoyl chloride and  degree of acylation was determined by Ninhydrin assay. Nanoparticles of chitosan and myristoyl chitosan were prepared by ionic gelation and the method was optimised for processing parameters based on particle size, zeta potential and entrapment efficiency (EE). The nanoparticles of chitosan and myristoyl chitosan were conjugated with concanavalin A by incubation and the conjugation was confirmed by zeta potential measurement. The surface morphology of the optimized formulation was checked with the help of SEM and was further studied for organ distribution studies in Wistar rat model. Myristoyl chitosan synthesised was confirmed by FT-IR studies. Degree of acylation was found out to be 42.2 ± 2.7%. The optimized Con A conjugated nanoparticles prepared by chitosan (Ch17) and myristoyl chitosan (MCh17) was found to be spherical in shape with particle size 244.4nm and 275.8nm, zeta potential of 0.307mV and 0.133mV, entrapment efficiency 45.01±1.32% and 40.10±1.23% respectively. In vitro drug release (PBS 7.4) from Ch17 was 93.02±1.66% and followed Higuchi model, while release from MCh17 was 68.53±2.27% and followed Peppas model. Both the formulation were stable for 1 month at the temperature of 2-8oC. In vivo liver uptake of MCh17 nanoparticles was 93.6±10.11% while it was  87.0±7.55% with Ch17. Epirubicin loaded MCH17 nanoparticle showed high uptake by liver with concomitant reduction in blood level of Epirubicin in comparison to  Ch17 nanoparticles.