INSTITUTUL NAÅ¢IONAL DE CERCETARE-DEZVOLTARE - ICECHIM

1 Bioresources and biomaterials - PNEW TYPE OF MICRO AND NANOPARTICLES BASED ON CHITOSAN ANDGELATIN FOR APPLICATIONS IN OPHTHALMOLOGYLUPESCU (ANDREI) Gabriela 1 , Simona BĂCĂIŢĂ 1 , Dănu Costin 2 , Marcel POPA 1 ,Cătălina Anişoara PEPTU 11 “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, Faculty of Chemical Engineering andEnvironmental Protection, Prof. dr. doc. Dimitrie Mangeron 73, Iasi, 700050, Romania,2 “Gr. T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iasi, Faculty of Medicine, Departmentof Ophthalmology, Universitatii Street 16,700115 Iasi, RomaniaThe advantages of using nanoparticles for targeting different eye tissues include:a) - improved topical passage of large, poorly water-soluble molecules, b) – nanoparticle- mediated drug delivery increases the contact time of the administered drug with its targettissue and c) - nanoparticles allow the possibility of targeted delivery to reach specific typesof cancer, such as melanoma, leaving normal cells untouched. One of the most promisingnatural polymers for being used as drug carrier is chitosan due to its well known properties(biocompatibility, biodegradability, nontoxicity and mocoadhesivity). The work presentsoriginal results concerning the preparation and the characterization of chitosan nanoparticlesas well as their distribution at ophthalmic level after intraocular administration and in vitro/invivo cefuroxime release tests. The nanoparticles have been prepared by ionic gelation anddouble crosslinking (covalent and ionic) in w/o emulsion 1 . The characterization ofnanoparticles implied FTIR analysis of nanoparticles for evidentiation of the chitosanchemical crosslinking, the morphology of microspheres was evaluated by scanning electronmicroscopy; the particles size distribution of the products, were measured by laserdiffractometry using a Shimadzu laser diffractometer. Particles swelling in different pHenvironment was studied; cefuroxim loading and release properties has been analysed in vitroand in vivo by UV-VIS, respectivelly by HPLC-MS.Acknowledgement This work is supported by the project PERFORM-ERA "PostdoctoralPerformance for Integration in the European Research Area" (ID-57649), financed by theEuropean Social Fund and the Romanian Government.1Peptu,C.A et al., J. Bioact. Comp. Polym. , Volume 25 (1): 98, Jan 1, 2010