The objective of this research project was to evaluate the potential use of chitosan (CS) nanoparticles (NPs) as a drug delivery system for the molecule adenosine. Adenosine is an essential drug used for treating several health issues especially irregular heart rhythm. However, due to its extremely short half-life in vivo (<10 s), the effective delivery of adenosine in clinical applications is a significant challenge. In this research, adenosine was encapsulated into NPs formed by ionic gelation of CS. The encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity of 20% and 3% were obtained, respectively, by forming a complex between CS NPs and adenosine. The obtained CS NPs had a spherical shape in the size range of 260.6 ± 20.1 nm. Spectrophotometry analysis of the adenosine released in vitro showed an initial burst release phase, a plateau phase, followed by a steady release over a week.
Keywords: Adenosine; chitosan; drug delivery systems; nanoparticles.