Amphiphilic nanocarrier based upon tragacanth gum conjugated with phospholipid for potential biomedical applications

Abstract

newline vii newlineABSTRACT newline. newlineBiopolymers represent an attractive domain of polymeric materials due to their natural origin and multifunctional structure which offers enormous possibilities of their biomedical applications. Tragacanth Gum (TG) is a polysaccharide which has excellent biocompatibility, hydrophilicity and functionality. However, TG needs precise modification to introduce specific groups in its structure. In the present investigation, TG was functionalized by grafting of itaconic acid using chemical initiation process. This is a very attractive approach for incorporation of new features within the biopolymer without any significant loss of inherent properties of the substrate. The grafting was observed to be significantly influenced by the reaction parameters. The grafting varied between 22-141% and led to the incorporation of the carboxyl groups which may offer pH-sensitivity in the system. These smart hydrogels have been used for the immobilization of cisplatin, the anticancer drug. The investigation of the immobilized nanoparticle have been undertaken by the different techniques. newlineCurrent research projection is dedicated to the designing and development of functional and smart polysaccharide, tragacanth gum, which may provide a root to the preparation of nanogels for targeted drug delivery of cisplatin as an anticancer drug. The grafted nanogel was observed tobe amorphous in nature and hence provided a good matrix for the proper distribution of the drug in the matrix. The concept of targeted drug delivery in our system is expected to release the drug exclusively released in the vicinity of targeted organ only. It is proposed that the grafted TG may open up its structure in the colon facilitating the release of the drug. We achieved nanogels of 8-64 nm where cp was immobilized in their bulk structure. newlineThese nanogels showed pH dependent swelling behavior and hence acted as the smart material. The nanogels released drug in a sensitive manner depending on the pH of the medium. AT a pH of 7.4, the release rate was almost double as compared to the 2.5 pH. The MTT assay was carried out to study the cytocompatibility of the nanogels. newlineKeywords: Polysaccharides, amphiphiles, nanogels, stimuli, targeted drug delivery