This study reports on the development of a novel mucoadhesive and biocompatible shell-crosslinked
nanogel system based on poly(butylene adipate) (PBA) and N-succinyl chitosan (S-Cs) by coupling reaction
with a new formulation method. For this purpose, two different molecular weights of dendrimerized
PBA with amine terminated functional groups were synthesized separately and characterized
well by FT-IR, 1HNMR and GPC. The PBA nanoparticles containing loteprednol etabonate (LPE) prepared
by O/W emulsion technique were reacted immediately with modified carboxylated chitosan via carbodiimide
chemistry. TEM photographs of the nanoparticles and crosslinked nanoparticles displayed a
spherical morphology closely corresponding to the results obtained by DLS. On The other hand, biodegradability,
biocompatibility and bioadhesiveness of the prepared nanoparticles were also studied. It is
concluded that the coreeshell structured nanogels can be used as novel ocular drug delivery systems
with appropriate loading capacity for slightly water soluble LPE as an anti-inflammatory drug.
