Design of polymeric nanocapsules to improve their lympho-targeting capacity

Abstract

Aim: To design lympho-targeted nanocarriers for enhancing the activity of associated drugs/antigens whose target is within the lymphatic system. Materials & Methods: inulin-based NCs, negatively charged, and positively charged chitosan NCs were prepared by the solvent displacement techniques. The NCs were produced in two sizes: small (70 nm) and medium (170 – 250 nm). Results: In vitro results indicated that the small NCs interacted more with dendritic cells. The study of the NCs biodistribution in mice, using 3D reconstruction of the popliteal lymph node, showed the highest accumulation for small inulin NCs. These NCs exhibited the greatest interaction with all the subsets of resident immune cells. Conclusion: small inulin NCs confirmed their foreseen lympho-targeting properties.