Study of 5-Fluorouracil Loaded Chitosan Nanoparticles for Treatment of Skin Cancer

Background: The purpose of this study was to formulate, characterize and in-vitro cytotoxicity of 5-Fluorouracil loaded controlled release nanoparticles fur the treatment of skin cancer. The patents on nanoparticles (US8414926B1), (US61654404A), (WO2007150075A3) etc. helped in the selection polymers and method for the preparation of nanoparticles. Methods: In the present study nanoparticles were prepared by simple ionic gelation method using various concentrations of chitosan and sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP). Several process and formulation parameters were screened and optimized using 25-2 fractional factorial design. The prepared nanoparticles Were evaluated for particle size, shape, charge, entrapment efficiency, crosslinking mechanism and drug release study. Results: The optimized 5-Fluorouracil loaded nanoparticle were found with particle size of of 320 +/- 2.1 nm, entrapment efficiency of 85.12%+/- 1.1% and Zeta potential of 29mv +/- 1mv. Scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering technique revealed spherical particles with uniform size. The in-vitro release profile showed controlled release up to 24 hr. Further study was carried using A375 basal cell carcinoma cell-line to elucidate the mechanism of its cytotoxicity by MTT assay. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that the possibility of delivering 5-Fluorouiacil to skin with enhanced encapsulation efficiency indicating effectiveness of the formulation for treatment of basal cell carcinoma type of skin cancer.