Synthesis of Chitosan Particles Coupled with Poly[2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl methacrylate] for Perillyl Alcohol Encapsulation.
Chitosan. Poly[2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl methacrylate]. Perillyl alcohol. Responsive polymers.
In this work, four polymeric materials of chitosan (QT) coupled to poly[2- (diisopropylamino)ethyl methacrylate] (PDPA) (QT-PDPA) were synthesized, altering the amounts of potassium persulfate added during the synthesis. The objective was to develop a controlled release nanocarrier with pH responsive property that can encapsulate perillyl alcohol (POH) for application in cancer treatment. QT-PDPA 03 and QT-PDPA 04 were the materials that showed the highest coupling efficiency values. The characterizations were performed by FTIR, TGA, EDL and RMNES of the 13C core and showed that there was a coupling between QT and PDPA. The materials showed responsiveness to pH due to the results obtained in the solubility tests and in the stability analysis and average particle size in aqueous medium at pHs 4,5, 6,0 and 7,4. The zeta potential values were greater than 30 mV (in module) for all nanoparticles, indicating that they were stable. The encapsulation efficiency was higher for the four synthesized materials than for pure QT. The QT-PDPA 03, among the four synthesized materials, presented the best results, such as better encapsulation efficiency of POH (87%), average particle size between 99,7 and 218,8 nm and higher coupling efficiency of 26.12%. Thus, the QT-PDPA 03 material was selected to perform the POH release assay at pHs 4,5, 6,0 and 7,4 to simulate the lysosomal and blood tumor environment, respectively. The POH release profile was influenced by the pH change of the medium, because in acidic medium (pH 4,5) the POH release rate was higher than in neutral/basic medium (pH 7,4). Using the mathematical models of zero order, first order, Higuchi and Korsmeyer-Peppas, the release mechanisms were determined through the analysis of the correlation coefficient (R2). The release mechanism for pH 4,5 was first order, at pH 6,0 Korsmeyer-Peppas and pH 7,4 the Higuchi. These results demonstrated that the QTPDPA 03 material is pH responsive and has the potential to encapsulate POH and release it in a controlled manner.