Chitosan-Gellan Gum Bipolymeric Nanohydrogels—a Potential Nanocarrier for the Delivery of Epigallocatechin Gallate

Abstract

Encapsulation of a hydrophilic drug into a polymeric matrix always remains a challenging process due to poor loading and retention capacity. A novel nanoscale drug delivery system, i.e., nanohydrogels, has been developed by virtue of combination of ionotropic gelation and polyelectrolyte complexation technique for the delivery of a popular hydrophilic drug, (−)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is one of the popular bioactive compounds present in green tea. Chitosan and gellan gum were used as cationic and anionic polysaccharides, and magnesium chloride was used as cross-linking agent for the synthesis of nanohydrogels in the present study. Effects of polymers and cross-linker were optimized using a three-level two-factor central composite Design-Expert Software. The final optimized EGCG-loaded nanohydrogels were evaluated for particle size, encapsulation efficiency, stability, and morphological and drug release studies. Comparative antioxidant and antibacterial potentials of EGCG-loaded nanohydrogels and EGCG were examined. EGCG-loaded nanohydrogels show more antioxidant and antibacterial potential at the same dose level as compared to the pure EGCG. Therefore, advanced nanoscale drug delivery systems with a reduced dose level and significant effectiveness over the conventional systems may increase their use in the near future for the betterment of healthcare applications.