title: Alginate and chitosan particles as drug delivery system for cell therapy.
abstract: Drug-carrying microstructures which have a size similar to biological structures are very attractive to encapsulate drugs and protect them during the transit in the human body. This paper describes polymeric (alginate and chitosan) particles (average radius 500 nm) produced by homogenization techniques. In vitro studies performed on cell lines demonstrate the effectiveness of such particles for intracellular drug delivery. Our experiments suggest that cellular up - take increases linearly with particle concentration in the growth medium, and the internalization process has a first order kinetics (characteristic time around 0.5 h(-1)). In addition, the particles degrade within 24 h from the up-take without side effects for cell viability.
authors.affiliation: CRIM Lab-Center for Research in Microengineering, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Piazza Martiri della Libertà, 33, 56127, Pisa, Italy. g.ciofani@sssup.it
authors.forename: Gianni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ciofani
authors.forename: Vittoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Raffa
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Menciassi
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dario
mesh_terms: D000464:Alginates / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D002460:Cell Line; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism*; D020723:Glucuronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006603:Hexuronic Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D008422:Materials Testing; D008657:Metabolic Clearance Rate; D051379:Mice; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010316:Particle Size
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D004337:Drug Carriers; D006603:Hexuronic Acids; D020723:Glucuronic Acid; D048271:Chitosan