O-carboxymethyl chitosan nanoparticles for metformin delivery to pancreatic cancer cells.

Abstract

In this work we developed metformin loaded O-carboxymethyl chitosan (O-CMC) nanoparticles (NPs) by ionic-gelation method. The prepared NPs of 240 ± 50 nm size with spherical morphology exhibited a pH sensitive release of metformin in vitro. Cytotoxicity studies showed that the drug-incorporated NPs induced significant toxicity on pancreatic cancer cells (MiaPaCa-2) compared to normal cells (L929). Metformin loaded NPs exhibited nonspecific internalization by normal and pancreatic cancer cells; however metformin released from the NPs induced preferential toxicity on pancreatic cancer cells. Our preliminary studies suggested that such a novel approach could possibly overcome the current limitations of metformin in its clinical application against pancreatic cancer.

• Authors: K S Snima, R Jayakumar, A G Unnikrishnan, Shantikumar V Nair, Vinoth-Kumar Lakshmanan
• Journal: Carbohydrate polymers (Carbohydr Polym) Vol. 89 Issue 3 Pg. 1003-7 (Jul 01 2012) ISSN: 1879-1344 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 24750892 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Drug Carriers
• O-carboxymethylchitosan
• Chitosan
• Metformin

Topics

• Cell Line, Tumor
• Chitosan (analogs & derivatives, chemistry)
• Drug Carriers
• Hemolysis (drug effects)
• Humans
• Metformin (administration & dosage, pharmacokinetics, pharmacology)
• Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
• Nanoparticles (chemistry)
• Pancreatic Neoplasms (drug therapy, pathology)