Protein Delivery by Enteric Copolymer Nanoparticles

Abstract

The release profiles of bovine serum albumin nanoencapsulated into an enteric copolymer (methacrylic acid/ethyl acrylate blended with poly (ethylene glycol)) show an effective protection for this protein from the stringent pH gastric environment. The nanoParticles (nP) yield of about 90% and encapsulation efficiency of 77–78% indicate a successful control of the process. The experimental evidence leads to physical entanglements between PEG and the copolymer be considered as the driving factor to modulate the release.

Keywords:

• Enteric copolymer
• PEG
• protein nanoencapsulation
• protein-matrix interaction
• release profile

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Red de Macrouniversidades for the financial support. We also thank Dr. Genoveva Hernández-Padrón, Mr. Miguel A. Canseco, Dr. Sergio Jiménez, and Mr. Francisco Rodríguez for their kind assistance in various stages of this project. The copolymer used was a contribution from BASF (Germany).