(44f) Chromonics Nanoparticles As Novel Drug Carriers: Size Distribution and Control Release Studies

Chromonic liquid crystals (or chromonics) are formed by the self-organization of aromatic compounds with ionic or hydrophilic groups in aqueous solutions. Due to their self-assembly, they aggregate and stack onto each other forming an inner core region which can be loaded with drug and which in turn can be released on specific time periods in controlled manner. This study reports the process of designing the chromonic nanoparticles and drug release in sustained and controlled manner from them. Folic acid has been considered as a chromonic material in the present study and was used to develop nanoparticles with the help of HPMC polymer, which in turn crosslinked with the help of polyvalent cationic salt. Characterization of these nanoparticles were carried out with help of DLS and SEM technique.  It was observed that HPMC polymer dosage and concentration can be used to manipulate and control the size of these nanoparticles.In the respect to release the drug in sustainable manner for prolonged cytotoxicity and constant therapeutic index, folic acid release studies from the nanoparticles were carried out in 0.8% NaCl solution and DMEM growth media. It was observed that both nanoparticle’s size and release medium affects the release of folic acid from the nanoparticles. Therefore, chromonic nanoparticles can prove to be a potent drug nanocarrier for delivery of chemotherapeutics drugs, proteins and other compounds.