title: Mucoadhesive nanogels by ionotropic crosslinking of chitosan-g-oligo(NiPAam) polymeric micelles as novel drug nanocarriers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate a novel kind of mucoadhesive nanogel based on the supramolecular aggregation of chitosan-g-oligo(N-isopropylacrylamide) copolymers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Copolymers were synthesized by the graft-free radical polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide on chitosan. The aggregation was studied by dynamic light scattering and nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), the nanostructure by transmission electron microscopy(TEM)/cryo-TEM, the mucoadhesiveness in vitro with mucin and the cytocompatibility in Caco2 cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Copolymers (36-74% w/w N-isopropylacrylamide content) showed critical micellar concentration between 2.0 and 40.0 × 10(-3)% w/v and micelles were nanometric and positively charged. Physical stabilization was achieved with ionotropic crosslinking. TEM/cryo-TEM revealed multimicellar aggregates with good mucoadhesion and cytocompatibility properties. Micellar systems (1-10% w/v) increased the solubility of efavirenz up to 1249-fold.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results support the potential of these nano-drug delivery systems for improved mucosal administration of hydrophobic drugs.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Nanomaterials Science, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Maya Menaker
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Raskin
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Nanomaterials Science, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Inbar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schlachet
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Nanomaterials Science, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.|Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI), Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sosnik
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D004337:Drug Carriers; D000080385:Nanogels; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D011094:Polyethyleneimine; D066244:Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D004337:Drug Carriers; D000080385:Nanogels; C413692:polyethylene glycol polyethyleneimine nanogel; C052970:poly-N-isopropylacrylamide; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D011094:Polyethyleneimine; D048271:Chitosan
keywords: chitosan-g-oligo(NiPAam) copolymers; efavirenz encapsulation; mucoadhesive polymeric micelles; mucosal drug delivery; noncovalent corona crosslinking