Fluorescent chitosan nanoparticles as a carrier system for trackable drug delivery

Chitosan (CS) is a biopolymer that presents remarkable biomedical applications. Here we report on the fluorescence study of water-soluble CS nanoparticles obtained by hydrothermal treatment at different temperatures and exposure times using hydrochloric acid as solvent. Average particle size varied from 1.69 μm to 112 nm for tested conditions. The fluorescence quantum yield of these CS NPs was increased by up to 75 times. Methotrexate (MTX) was incorporated in to CS NPs and our outcomes pointed out that the incorporation efficiency of MTX in to CS-NPs was 72.90%, and 25.30% (w/w) of the incorporated MTX was released in 96 h.