Conflict of Interests The

paper was entirely written by the authors. The authors do not have personal and/or financial conflict of interests.
In spite of the absolute number of incident TB cases falling globally, tuberculosis (TB) continues to be the leading cause of mortality worldwide and has also been considered to be an occupational disease in the health care setup [1]. One of the major problems in the current treatment of tuberculosis is the noncompliance to prescribed regimens, primarily because treatment of TB involves continuous, frequent multiple drug dosing. Adherence to treatment and the outcome of therapy could be improved with the introduction of long-duration drug formulations releasing the antitubercular Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical agents in a slow and sustained Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical manner [2]. Polymer-based drug delivery systems like polymeric buy GDC-0199 nanoparticles have achieved a potential position in the controlled release of therapeutic agents [3]. Polymeric nanoparticles are solid colloidal particles with diameters ranging from 1 to 1000nm [4]. They consist of macromolecular Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical materials in which the active ingredient is dissolved, entrapped, encapsulated, and adsorbed or chemically attached. The fate of nanoparticles in the gastrointestinal tract has extensively been investigated [5–7]. Sustained release cross-linked polymeric nanoparticles enable improvement

of drug bioavailability by offering protection to the drugs in gastrointestinal environment and enhancement of solubility because of nanonization. This approach may help in overcoming the first pass effect by getting absorbed Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical from the intestinal tract and entering into the blood streams. Here, the uptake of polymeric nanoparticles may occur by transcytosis via M cells and intracellular uptake and transport via the epithelial cells lining of the intestinal mucosa via Peyer’s patches. The selection of

polymer to develop polymeric nanoparticles is dependent on many factors like size of nanoparticles required, inherent properties of the drug, surface Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical characteristics, biodegradability, biocompatibility, toxicity, and drug release desired profile [8]. Chitosan is the most extensively studied polysaccharide to develop polymeric Nanoparticles [9]. As a biodegradable polymer, Chitosan is a popular Resminostat choice in the application as a drug delivery carrier due to its biocompatibility, chemical versatility, and low cost [10]. In the present study, rifampicin is used as a model antitubercular agent. The main objective of the present study was to formulate and optimize oral sustained release Chitosan nanoparticles of Rifampicin by design of experiment (DOE). 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Materials Chitosan (CS) (degree of deacetylation: 93%) was purchased from Yarrow Chem Products (Mumbai, India). Sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) was sourced from Sigma-Aldrich (Mumbai, India). Rifampicin was a gift from Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Ahmedabad, India) and was of pharmacopeial grade.