determination of the optimum conditions for production of chitosan nanoparticles

bioedegradable nanoparticles are intensively investigated for their potential applications in drug delivery systems. being a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer, chitosan holds great promise for use in this area. this investigation was concerned with determination and optimization of the effective parameters involved in the production of chitosan nanoparticles using ionic gelation method. studied variables were concentration and ph of the chitosan solution, the ratio of chitosan to sodium tripolyphosphate therein and the molecular weight of chitosan. for this purpose, taguchistatistical method was used for design of experiments in three levels. the size of chitosan nanoparticle was determined using laser light scattering. the experimental results showed that concentration of chitosan solution was the most important parameter and chitosan molecular weight the least effective parameter. the optimum conditions for preparation of nanoparticles were found to be 1 mg/ml chitosan solution with ph=5, chitosan to sodium tripolyphosphate ratio of 3 and chitosan molecular weight of 200,000 daltons. the average nanoparticle size at optimum conditions was found to be about 150 nm.