Investigation of the Effect of Chitosan Nanoparticles Synthesis Method on Their Anticancer Activity

Abstract

There has been a lot of interest in the synthesis of chitosan nanostructures for biomedical purposes. The biocompatibility, biodegradability, and cationic features of chitosan made it as a good candidate for bioprocess. This study compares chitosan nanoparticles generated by three different methods including the ionic gelation, emulsionic solvent diffusion, and reverse micellar/microemulsion techniques in terms of their physicochemical characteristics and cytotoxicity effects on the breast cancer cells. The obtained chitosan nanoparticles were specified using FTIR, UV–Vis spectroscopy, SEM, and MTT assay. Light inverted microscope distinguished the morphological differences in treated and untreated cells. Results showed that the size of chitosan nanoparticles spanned from 281[Formula: see text]nm to 420[Formula: see text]nm and ionic gelation method produced smaller and more uniform particles than two others. More positive zeta potential indicated that stable nanoparticles were synthesized by ionic gelation method. Results also indicated that nanochitosans prepared by all three methods markedly inhibited cell proliferation of MCF-7 cells with [Formula: see text] values of 0.31[Formula: see text]mg/mL, 0.74[Formula: see text]mg/mL, and 0.85[Formula: see text]mg/mL 24[Formula: see text]h after treatment, respectively. From this study, it is evident that the preparation method of nanochitosan affects its ability to inhibit breast cancer cells growth.