Structural evaluation of phospholipidic nanovesicles containing small amounts of chitosan

In this study we present a full characterization of nanovesicles containing soybean phosphatidylcholine and polysaccharide chitosan. The nanovesicles were prepared by the reverse phase evaporation method, including the preparation of reverse micelles followed by the formation of an organogel, which is dispersed in water to yield the final liposomal particles. Structural changes as a function of the chitosan amount and the filter porosity used in the nanovesicles preparation were studied employing Static and Dynamic Light Scattering as well as Small Angle X-ray Scattering. The hydrodynamic radius of the nanovesicles ranged between 106 and 287 nm, depending on the chitosan contents and the filter porosity. A comparison with nanovesicles free of chitosan indicates the existence of higher contents of multilamellar structures that depends on the chitosan concentration in the vesicles containing chitosan. Typical spherical vesicles having nanometric diameters with polydispersity mostly desired in the biomedical area could only be achieved by filtration through a 0.45 microm porous filter.