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Background: Glycol chitosan nanoparticles (CNPs) have emerged as an effective drug delivery system for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Although they have great biocompatibility owing to biodegradable chemical structure and low immunogenicity, sufficient information on in vivo toxicity to understand the potential risks depending on the repeated high-dose have not been adequately studied. Herein, we report the results of in vivo toxicity evaluation for CNPs focused on the number and dose of administration in healthy mice to provide a toxicological guideline for a better clinical application of CNPs. Results: The CNPs were prepared by conjugating hydrophilic glycol chitosan with hydrophobic 5β-cholanic acid and the amphiphilic glycol chitosan-5β-cholanic acid formed self-assembled nanoparticles with its concentration-dependent homogeneous size distributions (265.36–288.3 nm) in aqueous condition. In cell cultured system, they showed significantly high cellular uptake in breast cancer cells (4T1) and cardiomyocytes (H9C2) than in fibroblasts (L929) and macrophages (Raw264.7) in a dose- and time-dependent manners, resulting in severe necrotic cell death in H9C2 at a clinically relevant highly concentrated condition. In particular, when the high-dose (90 mg/kg) of CNPs were intravenously injected into the healthy mice, considerable amount was non-specifically accumulated in major organs (liver, lung, spleen, kidney and heart) after 6 h of injection and sustainably retained for 72 h. Finally, repeated high-dose of CNPs (90 mg/kg, three times) induced severe cardiotoxicity accompanying inflammatory responses, tissue damages, fibrotic changes and organ dysfunction. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that repeated high-dose CNPs induce severe cardiotoxicity in vivo. Through the series of toxicological assessments in the healthy mice, this study provides a toxicological guideline that may expedite the application of CNPs in the clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhanced drug-loading and therapeutic efficacies are highly essential properties for nanoparticles as tumor-targeting drug carriers. Herein, we developed the glycol chitosan nanoparticles with hydrotropic oligomers (HO-CNPs) as a new tumor targeting drug delivery system. For enhancing drug-loading efficiency of paclitaxel in drug carriers, hydrotropic 2-(4-(vinylbenzyloxy)-N,N-diethylnicotinamide) (VBODENA-COOH) oligomers, that were used for enhancing the aqueous solubility of paclitaxel, were directly conjugated to glycol chitosan polymers. The amphiphilic conjugates readily formed nanoparticle structure (average size=302±22nm) in aqueous condition. Water-insoluble paclitaxel (PTX) was readily encapsulated into HO-CNPs with a high drug-loading amount up to 24.2wt.% (2.4 fold higher than other polymeric nanoparticles) by a simple dialysis method. The PTX encapsulated HO-CNPs (PTX-HO-CNPs; average size=343±12nm) were very stable in aqueous media up to 50days. Also, PTX-HO-CNPs presented rapid cellular uptake and lower cytotoxicity in cell culture system, compared to Cremophor EL/ethanol formulation of PTX. In tumor-bearing mice, the extravasation and accumulation of PTX-HO-CNPs in tumor tissue were precisely observed by intravital fluorescence imaging techniques. Furthermore, PTX-HO-CNPs showed the higher therapeutic efficacy, compared to Abraxane®, a commercialized PTX-formulation. These overall results demonstrate its potential as a new nano-sized PTX carrier for cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]