Development and characterization of alginate / chitosan nanoparticulate system for hydrophobic drug encapsulation

The present study was emphasized to develop Alginate/Chitosan nanoparticles capable of working as carriers of the hydrophobic drug quercetin, a polyphenolic nutraceutical belonging to flavonoid category of natural compounds, with multifaceted therapeutic applications. Accordingly, quercetin loaded nanoparticles was prepared by an ionotropic gelation of chitosan with sodium tripolyphosphate, followed by alginate polyelectrolyte complexation. Synthesised unloaded and quercetin loaded Alginate/Chitosan nanoparticles were extensively characterised for their intermolecular interaction, morphology, percentage of encapsulation and loading capacity of the drug by various physiochemical characterization techniques such as ATR-FTIR, SEM, TEM, and XRD. The nanoparticles showed excellent architecture with an average particle size of 118–255 nm, showing 82.4% of quercetin encapsulation and 46.5% of quercetin loading capacity. Our results imply that the formulated Alginate/Chitosan nanoparticles could be a promising carrier for the encapsulation of the hydrophobic bioactive compound combining safety profile with no acute systemic toxicity in animal models and enhanced protective activity of quercetin.