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Influence of charge on FITC-BSA-loaded chondroitin sulfate-chitosan nanoparticles upon cell uptake in human Caco-2 cell monolayers

Authors Hu C, Chiang C, Hong P, Yeh M

Received 7 June 2012

Accepted for publication 1 August 2012

Published 10 September 2012 Volume 2012:7 Pages 4861—4872

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S34770

Checked for plagiarism Yes

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 6



Chieh-shen Hu,1 Chiao-hsi Chiang,2 Po-da Hong,1,4,* Ming-kung Yeh1–3,*

1Biomedical Engineering Program, Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology; 2School of Pharmacy, National Defence Medical Center; 3Bureau of Pharmaceutical Affairs, Ministry of National Defence Medical Affairs Bureau; 4Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Background and methods: Chondroitin sulfate-chitosan (ChS-CS) nanoparticles and positively and negatively charged fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated bovine serum albumin (FITC-BSA)-loaded ChS-CS nanoparticles were prepared and characterized. The properties of ChS-CS nanoparticles, including cellular uptake, cytotoxicity, and transepithelial transport, as well as findings on field emission-scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy were evaluated in human epithelial colorectal adenocarcinoma (Caco-2) fibroblasts. ChS-CS nanoparticles with a mean particle size of 250 nm and zeta potentials ranging from
–30 to +18 mV were prepared using an ionic gelation method.
Results: Standard cell viability assays demonstrated that cells incubated with ChS-CS and FITC-BSA-loaded ChS-CS nanoparticles remained more than 95% viable at particle concentrations up to 0.1 mg/mL. Endocytosis of nanoparticles was confirmed by confocal laser scanning microscopy and measured by flow cytometry. Ex vivo transepithelial transport studies using Caco-2 cells indicated that the nanoparticles were effectively transported into Caco-2 cells via endocytosis. The uptake of positively charged FITC-BSA-loaded ChS-CS nanoparticles across the epithelial membrane was more efficient than that of the negatively charged nanoparticles.
Conclusion: The ChS-CS nanoparticles fabricated in this study were effectively endocytosed by Caco-2 fibroblasts without significant cytotoxicity at high nanoparticle concentrations. ChS-CS nanoparticles represent a potential novel delivery system for the transport of hydrophilic macromolecules.

Keywords: nanoparticles, chondroitin sulfate, chitosan, cell uptake, cytotoxicity

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