Gum ghatti-chitosan polyelectrolyte nanoparticles: preparation and characterization

The objective of the present study was to optimize the interaction between gum ghatti and chitosan to prepare polyelectrolyte nanoparticles using ofloxacin as the model drug. The effect of varying the concentration of gum ghatti, chitosan, Pluronic F-127, and ofloxacin on particle size and entrapment efficiency was studied using central composite experimental design. The optimized calculated parameters were concentrations of gum ghatti (0.12% w/v), chitosan (0.22% w/v), Pluronic F-127 (0.05% w/v), ofloxacin (0.1% w/v), which provided polyelectrolyte nanoparticles of size 121.6 nm and 94.49% entrapment. On screening for antibacterial activity, it was observed that polyelectrolyte nanoparticles had antibacterial activity comparable to the aqueous solution. Further, it was observed that polyelectrolyte nanoparticles released the drug by diffusion through the matrix following Higuchi's square-root kinetics.