Effects of Chitosan-Carboxymethyl Dextran Nanoparticles on Cell Proliferation and on Serum Cytokine Regulation

The bioactivity of chitosan-carboxymethyl dextran nanoparticles (CDNP) made using chitosans with different degrees of deacetylation (DA) (CDNP98: CDNP made with 98% DA chitosan; CDNP78: CDNP made with 78% DA chitosan) were tested by analysis of their in vitro effects on HeLa tumor cell and mouse fibroblast proliferation, and their in vivo effects on the regulation of mouse serum cytokine levels. CDNPs (50 to 100 g/ml) induced higher fibroblast proliferation than chitosans (CDNP98 > CDNP78 > chitosan), and were also more effective than chitosans in inhibition of HeLa cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner (25 to 100 g/ml) (CDNP78 > CDNP98 > chitosans). CDNPs also induced a higher serum IL-5 level than chitosans (CDNP98 > CDNP78 > chitosans) within 3 h, and CDNP78 had a greater impact on IL-6 regulation but regulated IL-10 over a shorter duration than CDNP98 within the first 3 h. Combined with their ability to reduce serum IL-17 at 24 h, these biocompatible, immuno-active CDNPs demonstrated the potential to be applied as biomedical materials.