Chitosan-based nanoparticles studied by isothermal titration calorimetry

In the last decade, there has been a growing interest on chitosan-based nanomaterials. Chitosan is a polymer exceptionally versatile, biodegradable, biocompatible and with good capacity of mucoadhesivity and permeation-enhancing effect. These features make chitosan a perfect material for the fabrication of polymeric nanoparticles for a variety of applications in the field of pharmaceutics, nutraceutics or cosmetics. This paper discuss on the role of isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) in the creation of protocols for the preparation of chitosan-based nanoparticles, as well as the role of calorimetry to find chitosan-coating conditions to offer to nanoparticles the desired proprieties for the delivery of drugs, biologics and vaccines. Although several papers of the current literature show the employment of ITC in chitosan-based nanosystems, most of them lack a thermodynamic description. Here, we highlight on two types of systems: chitosan-coating nanoparticles and chitosan-containing nanoparticles. The thermodynamic properties and the energetic aspects of the overall interactions are discussed.