title: Microstructure formation and property of chitosan-poly(acrylic acid) nanoparticles prepared by macromolecular complex.
abstract: We report here a study on the microstructure formation process of polymeric nanoparticles based on polyelectrolyte complexes. When polyanion poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) was dropped into polycation chitosan (CS) solution, CS-PAA nanoparticles with diverse microstructure would be formed under different experimental conditions. The microstructure of CS-PAA nanoparticles changed from solid spherical nanoparticles to core-shell separative ones and turned back to solid spherical ones with the variation of preparation conditions. The influence of molecular weight of CS and PAA, shell cross-linking, dropping temperature on the size, stability and morphology of CS-PAA nanoparticles were also studied. The nanoparticle size was affected by the molecular weight of CS and PAA, the ratio of amino group to carboxyl group (na/nc) and the incubation temperature as well. The shell-cross-linking provides a means to stabilize these nanoparticles. These nanoparticles can encapsulate plasmid DNA very well, which makes them have great potential in gene delivery.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry and Department of Polymer Science & Engineering, College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xiqun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Yonghua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000179:Acrylates / Q000737:chemistry*; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry*; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008970:Molecular Weight; D049329:Nanostructures; D010316:Particle Size; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D000179:Acrylates; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D048271:Chitosan; C036658:acrylic acid