Encapsulation of L‐dopa and catechol in bovine serum albumin nanocarrier using desolvation method and their in vitro release studies

In the current study, the interaction between L‐dopa and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as well as catechol and BSA is investigated separately. In order to achieve the optimum values for encapsulated efficiency (EE), the content of crosslinker/BSA, organic/aqueous phase, drug/BSA, stirring rate, and pH were closely studied taking the advantage of Taguchi method. Particle characterization was carried out using transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering techniques. The most appropriate catechol and L‐dopa nanoparticles in the size range of 100 nm and 65 nm, respectively, and at optimized conditions of drug/BSA = 0.1, pH = 7.4, crosslinker/BSA = 0.084, organic/aqueous phase = 4 and stirring rate 400 rpm were obtained. The most favorable EE (encapsulation efficiency) and LC (loading capacity) for L‐dopa and catechol was estimated to be 88.1% and 83.6%, respectively, and the calculated LC% was achieved 93.4% and 89.7% for L‐dopa and catechol, respectively. The chromatographic analyses results were also found to be in a good agreement with the obtained data for the calculated EE% and LC% values. in vitro release of loaded drugs from nanoparticles in phosphate‐buffered saline (pH = 7.4, incubated at 37 ± 0.5°C under stirring rate of 100 rpm) showed the release of 78% catechol and 89% L‐dopa during 480 min and 510 min, respectively. BSA@L‐dopa and BSA@catechol nanoparticles were prepared using desolvation method. The effective parameters on the size of BSA anoparticles and drug loading were optimized by Taguchi method. Under optimum condition, the size of nanoparticles was in the range of 65–100 nm and drug encapsulation efficiency was between 83.6–88.1%.