[Preparation of chitosan microparticles and study of their interaction with interferon].

Chitosan with viscosity average molecular weights of 340, 281, 199, 137, and 42 kDa was used to prepare microparticles by precipitation coacervation. Acid and enzymatic hydrolysis yielded chitosan samples with a deacetylation degree of 0.85 +/- 0.03. The chitosan microparticles were 0.85-1.7 microm in size and had a zeta-potential of 30.7-38 +/- 0.1 mV. Testing the microparticles for toxicity showed that they caused no death of animals. Interaction of recombinant alpha-2 interferon with the microparticles was studied by sorption from solutions. The maximum adsorption efficiency of interferon was 88% and the capacity of microparticles was 11.8-12.7 microg/mg.