Title:Microencapsulation of Doxorubicin Using Chitosan
Volume: 14
Issue: 1
Author(s): José Puertas, Arianne López, Francisco González Cazorla, Manuel Giménez Labrador, Mattias Adrian Repetto Baubin and Manuel José Lis Arias*
Affiliation:
- Department of Surfactants and Detergency (INTEXTER), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
Keywords:
Soluble drug, cancer, microcapsules, polymeric micelles, self-assembly, drug delivery, surfactants, korsmeyerpeppas, higuchi.
Abstract:
Introduction: For some medical treatments associated with cancer, the invasion of
organs is required, which must be done in a totally controlled way to obtain the expected results
in the treatment. Today, most medical treatments make use of invasive therapies to combat the
affected cancer tissues. Acting in this way also destroys those tissues not affected by the
generation of tumor centers that confront the cancer tumor center to be treated.
Methods: To ensure the objective of the treatment, doses of the drug to be administered in a little
controlled and free via are used that are ultimately ineffective due to the high degradation of the
active compound due to its non-existent stabilization and protection after its passage through the
body and consequently possible episodes of phagocytization, responsible for the reticuloendothelial
system. It is well known the side effects that one of the most promising anti-cancer molecules,
doxorubicin, shows. This is a problem for its use, and one of the possibilities to avoid these
desired behaviors, microencapsulation could be a possible approach.
Results: Microencapsulation of drugs allows the design of micro-level structures capable of containing
the active agent with sufficient protection and stabilization to be able to reach the target
site with the highest possible concentration of drug to be able to be gradually released in its
entirety and produce the desired effect in the therapy in a controlled way according to a previously
studied kinetic profile, which will allow a type of treatment in which the therapy will be noninvasive
due to the high degree of targeting selectivity that the microcapsule allows.
Conclusion: The use of the amine groups present in the chitosan polymer's structure to increase
or modify the molecular interactions with doxorubicin is a very interesting aspect that will be
treated here. These interactions help to make possible the control and protection of the active
principle, as it is shown in the quantification of the drug-delivery behavior of the system made.
