Crosslinking corn zein nanoparticles for targeted delivery were biocompatible and were detected in the kidney, liver and spleen in mice with higher uptake than the un-crosslinked ones. Protein based nanoparticles are preferred for delivery of therapeutic drug and genes due to their biocompatibility, capability to loading various types of drugs and biodegradability. However, proteins such as a collagen and albumin are not water stable and are not ideal for drug delivery. Zein nanoparticles have shown potential to load high amounts of drugs, were biocompatible. In vivo study also showed zein nanoparticles can be distributed in multiple target organs in mice. However, the uptake of zein nanoparticles was low due to their fast degradation. In this study, zein nanoparticles (around 100 nm) were crosslinked with citric acid, and showed good stability under physiological conditions.  Being mainly in live and spleen, the crosslinked zein nanoparticles showed much higher uptake than the uncrosslinked ones. Our in vivo and in vitro studies suggest that crosslinked zein nanoparticles are suitable for targeted delivery applications.

Controlled in vivo biodistribution of zein nanoparticles with crosslinking

248th National Meeting (2014)

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