Design and characterization of pH-Receptive Chitosan nanocarriers for regulated doxorubicin release in cancer therapy: synthesis engineering and functional assessment

Traditional chemotherapy treatments have caused unavoidable damage to healthy tissues, which calls for the development of a therapeutic system capable of safely administering, distributing, metabolizing, and excreting drugs from the human body without harming healthy cells. Nowadays, a therapeutic system that delivers a drug precisely to the right place is desperately needed.Innovative chitosan-based polymeric nanoparticles were designed in this study by incorporation of N-methyl-N-vinyl acetamide and N-isopropyl acrylamide. The existence of distinctive functional groups was verified by FTIR analysis, including –NH₂ (1538 cm⁻¹), OH⁻ (3271 cm⁻¹), and C = O (1623 cm⁻¹). The synthesized nanoparticles exhibited an average particle size of 177.5 nm, as determined by SEM imaging. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed amorphous structure, and TGA confirmed integrity up to 100 °C, with a negligible loss of 2.67%. Polymeric nanoparticles (PNPs) demonstrated efficient encapsulation of doxorubicin at 87% (4.38 mg/5 mg). The cumulative release profile of doxorubicin at pH levels of 7.4, 6.5, and 5.3 by the CS-MVA-NIPAAm-based PNPs was determined as 9, 14, and 18% at 37 °C, 21, 26, and 29% at 38 °C, 23, 31, and 49% at 39 °C, and 29, 65, and 90% at 40 °C respectively, in 48 to 96 h. At pH 5.3, a notable 90% release (3.96 mg/4.38 mg) was observed by loaded PNPs at 40 °C in 48 to 96 h. The utilization of PNPs with varying N-methyl-N-vinylacetamide (MVA) concentrations has the potential to efficiently deliver chemotherapeutic drugs.