Nanoparticle formation by using shellac and chitosan for a protein delivery system

Abstract

The potential of using two natural polymers (chitosan and shellac) for the formation of nanoparticles by the process of ionic cross-linking to encapsulate bovine serum albumin, a model protein was investigated. Depending on the concentrations of chitosan, shellac and bovine serum albumin, three physical states – nanoparticle, aggregation, and solution could be observed as a result of the electrostatic force. The formation of nanoparticles was due to the balance between the repulsion force and attractive force while the imbalance between both forces resulted in the formation of aggregation and solution. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry were applied to prove the nanoparticle formation. The particle size was characterized by the light scattering technique and was found in the range between 100 and 300 nm. The morphology of the particles, detected by transmission electron microscopy was spherical shape. The result showed that the zeta potential of the nanoparticles possessed positive charges. The concentrations of chitosan, shellac and bovine serum albumin had an influence on the physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles such as the particle size, the zeta potential, the encapsulation, the loading efficiencies and the cumulative release. Therefore, chitosan and shellac could be used to form nanoparticles for protein delivery by the ionic cross-linking method.

Keywords::

• Chitosan
• shellac
• nanoparticle
• protein
• polyelectrolyte complexes

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Thailand Research Fund for the financial support. In addition, the authors would like to thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. Surachai Nimgirawath for the proof reading of the manuscript.

Declaration of interest

Financial support was received from the Thailand Research Fund through the Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.D. Program (Grant No.PHD/0112/2549). The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.