Development of nanomaterials to overcome the mucosal barrier modulating their mucoadhesion and mucopenetration properties

Abstract

The aim of this work is to synthesize and develop polymeric nanoparticles (NP) that are able to interact with mucosal tissue for potential drug delivery. It is hypothesized that the NPs will be successfully functionalized giving effective nanocarriers that produce different interactions with mucus depending on the properties given by functionalization. Natural chitosan and chitosan functionalized with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) were used as starting reagents in different ratios to modulate nanoparticles properties regarding their solubility in aqueous medium, nanometric size, surface functionality, mucoadhesion, and mucopenetration. The NPs were characterized by Fourier- transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM).