Synthesis of chitosan nanoparticles, chitosan-bulk, chitosan nanoparticles conjugated with glutaraldehyde with strong anti-cancer proliferative capabilities

Abstract

In recent years, natural and synthetic polymers have attracted much attention due to their great potentials in medical science. In the present study, we have investigated the effect of chitosan-bulk (Ch-bulk), chitosan nanoparticles (ChNP), chitosan nanoparticles conjugated with glutaraldehyde (ChNP-GA) with an average size of 300-400 nm on human colorectal carcinoma cells (HCT-116) to examine their cytotoxic and anti-cancer abilities. We have evaluated the effects of Ch-bulk, ChNP, ChNP-GA on cancer cells by morphometric and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays respectively. Our results revealed that the Ch-bulk, ChNP, ChNP-GA decreased cell viability, cell proliferation and caused cell death in a concentration-dependent manner. Both morphometric and quantitative analyses confirmed that (Ch-bulk) and Chitosan nanoparticles (ChNP and ChNP-GA) induced concentration-dependent effects on the cancer cells. Among these three, ChNP-GA produced a more profound effect on the survivability with compared to each-bulk and Ch-NP treated groups. A dose of 2 mg/mL did not produced much effect on the cancer cell death, however, a dose of 4 mg/mL-6 mg/mL produced significant morphological changes like nuclear condensation and augmentation. Interestingly, a dose of 8 mg/mL produced significant cell death 48 hours post-treatment. In addition, during our morphometric analysis, we found that (Ch-bulk) and Chitosan nanoparticles (ChNP and ChNP-GA) treated cells underwent nuclear disintegration and fragmentation which lead to programmed cell death. Our studies demonstrate that the Ch-bulk, ChNP and ChNP-GA holds a great potential in the treatment of colon cancer.