Abstract

Background: Emergence of new synthetic methods has given great impetus and momentum to nanotechnology which has revolutionized almost all disciplines of science and technology including medicine and pharmacy. The most fascinating aspect of nanomaterials is their vital role in drug delivery technology that makes use of them as drug carrying vehicles and delivers the carried drug to the diseased site in pre-determined amount. The present work aims at designing genipin crosslinked nanocarriers of gelatin and studying release of cisplatin drug under varying experimental conditions. Methods: The genipin crosslinked nanoparticles of gelatin were prepared by emulsion crosslinking method and the nanoparticles were characterized by techniques like FTIR, SEM, TEM and particle size analysis. The nanocarriers were loaded with cisplatin and the release of drug was monitored spetrophotometrically. Results: The size of nanoparticles was found up to 150 nm and the FTIR spectra confirmed the crosslinking of gelatin by genipin. The release of cisplatin was found to increase with increasing percent loading of drug. The amount of released cisplatin was significantly dependent on the amount of gelatin and genipin. The amounts of released drug at acidic and alkaline pH were greater than that released at neutral medium. The drug was found to decrease with increasing temperature of the release medium. Conslusions: The emulsion crosslinking of gelatin with genipin results in a swelling controlled drug delivery system which may be successfully used to achieve controlled release of cisplatin type of drug. The nanoparticles produced are quite nanosize in dimension and offer greater loading of drug which may desirably be released with precise control over its amount.

Keywords: Cisplatin, drug delivery, gelatin, nanoparticles.