title: Size, Loading Efficiency, and Cytotoxicity of Albumin-Loaded Chitosan Nanoparticles: An Artificial Neural Networks Study.
abstract: When designing nanoparticles for drug delivery, many variables such as size, loading efficiency, and cytotoxicity should be considered. Usually, smaller particles are preferred in drug delivery because of longer blood circulation time and their ability to escape from immune system, whereas smaller nanoparticles often show increased toxicity. Determination of parameters which affect size of particles and factors such as loading efficiency and cytotoxicity could be very helpful in designing drug delivery systems. In this work, albumin (as a protein drug model)-loaded chitosan nanoparticles were prepared by polyelectrolyte complexation method. Simultaneously, effects of 4 independent variables including chitosan and albumin concentrations, pH, and reaction time were determined on 3 dependent variables (i.e., size, loading efficiency, and cytotoxicity) by artificial neural networks. Results showed that concentrations of initial materials are the most important factors which may affect the dependent variables. A drop in the concentrations decreases the size directly, but they simultaneously decrease loading efficiency and increase cytotoxicity. Therefore, an optimization of the independent variables is required to obtain the most useful preparation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Nanotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hadi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Baharifar
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Nanotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Medical Biomaterials Research Center (MBRC), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: aamani@sina.tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D010316:Particle Size; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine; D048271:Chitosan
keywords: albumin; artificial neural networks; chitosan; cytotoxicity; loading efficiency; size