Characteristics of paclitaxel-loaded chitosan oligosaccharide nanoparticles and their preparation by interfacial polyaddition in O/W miniemulsion system

Paclitaxel-loaded chitosan oligosaccharide (CSO) nanoparticles were prepared by interfacial polyaddition between amino group of CSO and epoxy group of ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDE) in an O/W miniemulsion system. Using Span 85 and Tween 20 as the surfactants of oil phase and water phase, respectively, the stable O/W miniemulsion with about 200 nm droplet size could be obtained. When the molar ratio of EGDE to CSO was increased from 2 to 6, the average size of the obtained nanoparticles increased from 156.2 to 218.9 nm, the drug entrapment efficiency was increased from 83.68% to 92.30%, and the paclitaxel release rate was slowed. Fixing the molar ratio of EGDE to CSO at 4, the average size of prepared nanoparticles decreased from 282.1 to 140.4 nm when the total amount of CSO and EGDE was increased, while the drug entrapment efficiency increased, and the drug release rate in vitro decreased.