The Preliminary Results of Pullulan Nanoparticles Loaded with 5-Fluorouracil ^†

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide and one of the most challenging diseases to cure, being a health problem in spite of the rising number of nanoscaled technologies. Although the development of both diagnostic and therapeutic tools is increasing, nonselective distribution of drugs, enhanced drug toxicity, and undesirable side effects to normal tissues aggravate the challenges for chemotherapy [1]. In order to overcome these disadvantages, carrier-mediated drug delivery offers a number of design opportunities for engineering the delivery of a particular drug with enhanced therapeutic effects. Nowadays, many studies in cancer therapy are focused on drug delivery systems based on biopolymeric nanoparticles [2,3]. In this study, we aimed to obtain and evaluate pullulan acetate-based nanoparticles loaded with an anticancer agent, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Pullulan was produced through a fermentation process by Aureobasidium pullulans strain and was further chemically modified with dimethylformamide, pyridine and acetic anhydride to obtain pullulan acetate. The 5-FU-loaded pullulan acetate nanoparticles were successfully obtained by various methods. Nanoparticles were characterized in terms of entrapment efficiency, size and polydispersity index. The 5-FU-loaded pullulan acetate nanoparticles showed satisfactory size and polydispesity index. Furthermore, the results revealed a good entrapment efficiency of 5-FU. The present study implied that pullulans and their derivatives have a high potential for the production of nanoparticles with application in anticancer agents’ delivery.