A new drug nanocarrier consisting of polyarginine and hyaluronic acid

The purpose of this study was to produce and characterize a variety of nanostructures comprised of the polyaminoacid polyarginine (PArg) and the polysaccharide hyaluronic acid (HA) as a preliminary stage before evaluating their potential application in drug delivery. PArg was combined with high- or low-molecular-weight HA (HMWHA or LMWHA, respectively) to form nanoparticles by simply mixing polymeric aqueous solutions at room temperature. The average size of the resulting nanocarriers was between 116 and 155 nm, and their zeta potential value ranged from +31.3 to 3-5.9 mV, indicating that the surface composition of the particle could be conveniently modified according to the mass ratio of the polymers. Importantly, the systems prepared with HMWHA remained stable after isolation by centrifugation and in conditions that mimic the physiological medium, whereas particles that incorporated LMWHA were unstable. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the nanostructures made with HMWHA were spherical. Finally, the systems were stable for at least three months at storage conditions (4 degrees C). (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.