African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (20), pp. 1918-1923, 16 October 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Production of biological nanoparticles from bovine serum albumin for drug delivery

Rahimnejad M., M. Jahanshahi*, G. D. Najafpour

Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Noshirvani Institute of Technology Mazandaran University, Babol, Iran

*Corresponding author’s E-mail: Mjahan@nit.ac.ir.  Tel: +98-111-3234204. Fax: +98-111-2296583.

Accepted 14 July, 2006

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used for generation of nanoparticles in a drug delivery system. The size of the fabricated nano-particles was measure by laser light scanning. Several process parameters were examined to achieve a suitable size of nanoparticle such as pH, temperature, BSA concentration, agitation speed, glutaraldehyde concentration, organic solvent adding rate and the ratio of BSA/organic solvent. The smallest size of nanoparticles achieved, was 101 nm and the largest size was 503 nm. The most effective parameters for the fabrication of the nanoparticles were the agitation speed and the media temperature. The minimum size of nanoparticles at the desired incubator of 4°C and constant agitation rate of 300 - 400 rpm was obtained. The impact of protein concentration and additional rate of organic solvent (i.e. ethanol) upon the particle size was investigated. The protein concentration of 5-40 mg.ml^-1 was resulted; the main effect on the particle size and minimum mean size diameter gained was 30 mg.ml^-1 protein concentration. The nanoparticle sample was purified with 50,000 g centrifuge then followed by dialysis, micro and ultrafiltration and then analyzed by SEM, PCS as well as SDS gel electrophoresis.

Key words: Biological nanoparticles, bovine serum albumin, drug delivery, coacervation method, scaning electron microscopy.