Formation of self-organized nanoparticles by lecithin/chitosan ionic interaction.

In this work the production of auto-assembled nanoparticles obtained by the mixing of chitosan and lecithin is presented. The size and surface charge of the nanoparticles were studied as function of the weight ratio between components, the viscosity of the polysaccharide and the pH of the colloidal suspension. In order to elucidate the structure of nanoparticles, micro-FT-IR and elastic neutron scattering experiments have been performed. Results evidenced a strong electrostatic interaction between components and a structure that is neither that of homogeneous spheres nor of coated unilamellar vesicles. Preliminary encapsulation experiments with progesterone, as model lipophilic drug, showed good encapsulation efficiencies.