Synthesis of colloidal delivery vehicles based on modified polysaccharides for biomedical applications

Abstract Recent years research in the field of medicinal chemistry, led to the development of drug delivery systems to improve the efficacy and effectiveness of various therapeutic agents for a variety of diseases. Such systems are used for the transport of diagnostic and therapeutic factors, either experimentally or clinically. Particularly, the use of colloidal carriers made of polysaccharides, has emerged as a promising alternative, for improving the transport of pharmaceutical agents on pathogenic areas. In the present work, bio-compatible microspheres-with a synthetic polymeric core and three layers of polysaccharides [PMMA@HPC@CS@CH microspheres (Poly(methylmethacrylate)@hydroxypropyl cellulose@cellulose succinate@chitosan)] were synthesized by combining two techniques. PMMA nanospheres were used as a core in order to coat the surface with polysaccharides via layer by layer deposition. This composition is advantageous in comparison with other synthetic routes because at all stages of the synthesis, it is used only water as a solvent and not organic solvents and includes all of the unique properties of two polysaccharides (cellulose and chitosan) in one vehicle. Fabricated vehicles were characterized structurally by FT-IR spectroscopy and morphologically by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Finally, daunorubicin an anticancer agent was encapsulated as a drug model into the vehicles in order to evaluate their loading and releasing behavior.