Water soluble folate-chitosan nanogels crosslinked by genipin

Folate-chitosan conjugates were prepared by a concurrent functionalization and crosslinking reaction with the natural crosslinker genipin. Genipin molecule was employed simultaneously as crosslinker agent and spacer molecule in order to allow the functionalization with folic acid for active tumor targeting. The reaction was carried out in reverse microemulsion which provided colloidal size and monodisperse particle size distribution. The water solubility of the obtained folate-genipin-chitosan nanogels was studied as function of the pH of the medium and all nanoparticles were totally dispersible at physiological pH. The enzymatic degradability of the nanogels in a lysozyme solution was evaluated at acidic and physiological pH. QELS analyses of the swelling behavior of the nanogels with the pH did not show a clear pH-sensitivity. However, the study on the loading and release capacity of 5-fluorouracil revealed an interesting pH-responsive behavior of the nanogels that makes them promising as nanodevices for targeted anticancer drug delivery. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.