In vitro assessment of alkylglyceryl-functionalized chitosan nanoparticles as permeating vectors for the blood–brain barrier

A series of O-substituted alkylglyceryl chitosans with systematically varied alkyl chain length and degree of grafting has been employed for the formulation of aqueous nanoparticulate systems, which were in turn investigated for their effects on a modeled blood–brain–barrier system of mouse-brain endothelial cells. Barrier function measurements employing electric cell-substrate impedance sensing and analyses of tight junction-specific protein profiles have indicated that the alkylglyceryl-modified chitosan nanoparticles impact upon the integrity of the model blood–brain barrier, whereas confocal microscopy experiments have demonstrated the efficient cellular uptake and the perinuclear localization of these nanoparticles. The application of nanoparticles to the model blood–brain barrier effected an increase in its permeability, as demonstrated by following the transport of the tracer molecule fluorescein isothiocyanate.