Liposomal Chitosan-N-Acetyl Cysteine Nanoparticle for In-Vitro/In-Vivo Near Infrared Fluorescent (NIR) Imaging

In this work, we studied the effect of chitosan conjugated N-acetyl cysteine (CHT-NAC) coating on liposomal (DMPC:14 lysoPG: DSPE-2000-NH2) nanoparticles as a vehicle to cross the blood-brain barrier. The size of lipo-NP and Lipo-CHT-NAC NP were sub 50 nm with negative surface charge consistent with its use in an intravenous application. In vitro near infrared (NIR) imaging showed good cellular uptake in two triple-negative breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231 and brain metastatic MDA-MB-831). Live (4-120 h) and ex-vivo near-infrared imaging at 24 h in nude mice showed the extended circulation of CHT-NAC Lipo-NP. These results demonstrated that Lipo-CHT-NAC NP could be used for metastatic brain tumor imaging.