Preparation and characterization of amphiphilic poly-N-vinylpyrrolidone nanoparticles containing indomethacin

Amphiphilic poly-N-vinylpyrrolidone derivatives (Amph-PVP) with different molecular weight of hydrophilic PVP fragment and one terminal hydrophobic n-alkyl fragment of different length were synthesized for preparation of nano-scaled particles in aqueous media. To estimate novel polymer efficiency and perspective as basis for drug delivery systems, the polymeric micelle-like particles were prepared by dialysis and solvent evaporation methods. Indomethacin was incorporated into hydrophobic inner core of these nanoparticles as a typical model drug. From the dynamic light-scattering measurements, the size of particles formed was less than 200 nm with narrow monodisperse size distribution and nanoparticles size slightly increased with the amount of indomethacin encapsulated into inner core of Amph-PVP particles. The critical aggregation concentration values for prepared polymer samples determined by fluorescence spectroscopy were in micromole range which is lower than it is for common low molecular weight surfactants. As the hydrophobic fragment of amphiphilic polymer increased, the critical aggregation concentration values decreased. An increase of polymer hydrophilic fragment molecular weight produced larger nanoaggregates. In vitro release experiments using indomethacin-loaded Amph-PVP nanoparticles exhibited the sustained release behavior without any burst effect for most polymer samples.