Nanoparticles of alkylglyceryl dextran and poly(ethyl cyanoacrylate) for applications in drug delivery: Preparation and characterization

Toward the development of drug carriers that are capable of crossing biological membranes, controlled emulsion polymerization has been utilized to produce nanoparticulate carriers from the combination of poly(alkyl cyanoacrylate) and alkylglyceryl dextran to a molecular structure designed to combine the nonimmunogenic and stabilizing properties of dextran with the demonstrated permeation enhancing ability of alkylglycerols. To this aim, a systematic series of alkylglyceryl dextrans have been synthesized and functionalized with ethyl or butyl cyanoacrylates to form stable polymeric nanocarriers (100–500?nm). Results of investigations into their capability to act as controlled-release devices and their cytotoxicity against bEnd3 cells are reported.