Nanoparticles of alkylglyceryl dextran and poly(ethyl cyanoacrylate) for applications in drug delivery: preparation and characterisation

Toward the development of drug carriers that are capable of crossing biological membranes, controlled emulsion polymerisation has been utilised to produce nanoparticulate carriers from the combination of poly(alkyl cyanoacrylate) and alkylglyceryl dextran to a molecular structure designed to combine the non-immunogenic and stabilising properties of dextran with the demonstrated permeation enhancing ability of alkylglycerols. To this aim, a systematic series of alkylglyceryl dextrans have been synthesised and functionalised with ethyl or butyl cyanoacrylates to form stable polymeric nanocarriers (100-500 nm). Results of investigations into their capability to act as controlled-release devices and their cytotoxicity against bEnd3 cells are reported.