Pharmacoscintigraphic Evaluation of Polysorbate80-Coated Chitosan Nanoparticles for Brain Targeting

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) represents an insurmountable obstacle for delivery of a large number of drugs, including antibacterials, anticancer agents and neuropeptides. One approach to overcoming this barrier has been drug delivery to the brain using appropriately modified nanoparticles. Since polysorbate80 is known to facilitate uptake by brain endothelial cells, nanoparticles coated with polysorbate80 hold great promise for the transport of agents across the BBB. Since chitosan nanoparticles have extended circulation time in the blood and decreased uptake by the reticuloendothelial system, we decided to evaluate the efficiency of polysorbate80-coated chitosan nanoparticles as brain-delivery carriers. Polysorbate80 (1% w/w)-coated, ultra-fine, crosslinked chitosan nanoparticles (10% crosslinking with glutaraldehyde)