Unsaturated Poly(Hydroxyalkanoates) for the Production of Nanoparticles and the Effect of Cross-Linking on Nanoparticle Features

Rosario Pignatello; Giuseppe Impallomeni; Sarha Cupri; Giuseppe Puzzo; Claudia Curcio; Maria Giovanna Rizzo; Salvatore Guglielmino; Alberto Ballistreri

doi:10.3390/ma12060868

Unsaturated Poly(Hydroxyalkanoates) for the Production of Nanoparticles and the Effect of Cross-Linking on Nanoparticle Features

Materials (Basel). 2019 Mar 15;12(6):868. doi: 10.3390/ma12060868.

Authors

Rosario Pignatello^{1

2}, Giuseppe Impallomeni³, Sarha Cupri⁴, Giuseppe Puzzo⁵, Claudia Curcio⁶, Maria Giovanna Rizzo⁷, Salvatore Guglielmino⁸, Alberto Ballistreri^{9

10}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Drug Sciences, Section of Pharmaceutical Technology; University of Catania, Catania 95125, Italy. r.pignatello@unict.it.
² NANO-I, Research Center on Ocular Nanotechnology, University of Catania, Catania 95125, Italy. r.pignatello@unict.it.
³ CNR, Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials, Catania 95126, Italy. gimpa@unict.it.
⁴ Department of Drug Sciences, Section of Pharmaceutical Technology; University of Catania, Catania 95125, Italy. saracupri@yahoo.it.
⁵ Department of Drug Sciences, Section of Pharmaceutical Technology; University of Catania, Catania 95125, Italy. giuseppepuzzo3@virgilio.it.
⁶ Department of Drug Sciences, Section of Pharmaceutical Technology; University of Catania, Catania 95125, Italy. clacurcio@virgilio.it.
⁷ Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Science, University of Messina, Messina 98166, Italy. mgrizzo@unime.it.
⁸ Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Science, University of Messina, Messina 98166, Italy. sgugliem@unime.it.
⁹ NANO-I, Research Center on Ocular Nanotechnology, University of Catania, Catania 95125, Italy. aballistreri@unict.it.
¹⁰ Department of Drug Sciences, Section of Chemistry; University of Catania, Catania 95125, Italy. aballistreri@unict.it.

Abstract

A biodegradable poly(3-R-hydroxyalkanoate) synthesized by Pseudomonas mediterranea was investigated as a biomaterial to obtain colloidal drug delivery systems. Using a nanoprecipitation method, nanoparticles with a mean size of 155 nm and a negative surface charge were formed. They can be freeze-dried by adding hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin as a cryoprotectant, and they have been shown to efficiently load both a hydrophilic (calcein) and a lipophilic (Nile red) model probe. Since this polymer contains terminal double bonds in the side chains, cross-linking conditions were tested. In particular, under the action of UV rays or irradiation with an incandescent yellow lamp, this polymer tended to cross-link.

Keywords: Nile red; calcein; cryoprotectants; freeze-drying; polyesters; polymers.