Abstract

Fahima M. Hashem, Mohamed Nasr1 and Ahmed Khairy*

ABSTRACT

Chitosan- sodium deoxycholate nanoparticles containing 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) was prepared via a simple electrostatic interaction between oppositely charged particles using different weight ratios between chitosan and sodium deoxycholate. The objective of this work is to characterize and estimate the antitumor activity of the prepared chitosan- sodium deoxycholate nanoparticles loaded with 5-FU.The prepared nanoparticles were characterized in-vitro and in-vivo. The in-vitro characterizations were investigated by entrapment efficiency % (EE %), particle size analysis, zeta potential measurement, in-vitro release and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). 5- FU loaded CS- DS nanoparticles showed EE% ranging from (14.54 ±1.35 to 22.43 ±2.12), reasonable mean particle sizes (165.65 ±17.23 to 318.47 ±25.86) and zeta potential (35.57 ±3.05 to 48.86 ±3.57 mV). The in-vitro release of nanoparticles exhibited an initial burst effect followed by a sustained drug release with approximately 90 % of the drug being released over 6 hrs. In-vivo anti-tumor effect was studied on solid ehrlich carcinoma (SEC) tumor bearing Swiss albino mice.The anti- tumor activity of 5-FU loaded in CS- DS nanoparticles was evaluated comparatively to control and plain formula. The results revealed that 5-FU loaded CS- DS nanoparticles effectively decreased tumor volume and showed significantly (p<0.05) lower tumor volume compared to control group and plain formula.