Chitosan nanoparticles: process and their application as drug delivery.

Hari Eko Irianto (Balai Besar Penelitian dan Pengembangan Pengolahan Produk dan Bioteknologi Kelautan dan Perikanan)
Ijah Muljanah (Balai Besar Penelitian dan Pengembangan Pengolahan Produk dan Bioteknologi Kelautan dan Perikanan)

Squalen Bulletin of Marine and Fisheries Postharvest and Biotechnology
Vol 6, No 1 (2011): May 2011

Chitosan has wide ranges of potential applications and Indonesia possesses abundant rawmaterial sources such as crab and shrimp shells to produce it. Chitosan have beneficial properties,i.e. biocompatible, biodegradable, non-toxic and inexpensive. Nowadays, several experimentson the preparation of chitosan into nanoparticles and its utilization as drug delivery for varioustargeted therapies have been conducted. Chitosan nanoparticles can be prepared using variousmethods, e.g. emulsion cross-linking, precipitation, spray drying, emulsion-droplet coalescencemethod, ionic gelation, reverse micellar method and polyelectrolyte complex. Applications ofchitosan nanoparticles as drug delivery can be performed through diverse administrations includingparenteral, peroral and ocular, non-viral gene delivery vectors, vaccine delivery, and photodynamictherapy.