Enzymatic degradation of bovine serum albumin nanoparticles for drug delivery

• Author / Creator

  Singh, Harsh

• Coacervation is a mild process for developing protein NPs. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) NPs formed via this technique were stabilized using poly-L-Lysine (PLL); short interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) was used as a model drug for encapsulation. Specific and non-specific degradation of these coated and uncoated BSA NPs were carried using matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and trypsin, respectively. The particles were characterized with atomic force microscopy, zeta-potential, and photon correlation spectroscopy measurements. There was a significant increase in the zeta potential of BSA NPs upon coating. Trypsin digested the uncoated and coated BSA NPs and resulted in higher BSA release from the particles. However, MMP-2 treatment did not result in higher release of BSA from coated NPs despite the cleavability of coated polymer by MMP-2. This study described a method for obtaining BSA NPs in a controllable size range. Such particles showed degradability in the presence of trypsin and could be promising for targeted drug delivery applications.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Bovine serum albumin
  • Matrix metalloproteinase-2
  • Trypsin

• Graduation date

  Spring 2010

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3W11N

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.