Dopamine and antioxidant grape seed extract loaded chitosan nanoparticles: A preliminary in vitro characterization.

Neuronal cell model line SHSY-5Y is extensively adopted when in vitro investigations are related to Parkinson disease (PD) applica- tion. Herein, chitosan nanoparticles (CS NPs) were formulated for the co-administration of dopamine (DA) and Grape Seed Extract (GSE) with the aim to gain insight into the interactions occurring between SHSY-5Y and NPs. Following the ionic gelation technique, the mean particle size of the NPs resulted in the range 310–330 nm and the zeta measurements were in the range +16.4 – +35.5 mV. The presence of CS chains on the surface suggested by positive zeta values was also confirmed by FT-IR analysis, whereas storage stability studies upon different temperatures ev- idenced that, although aggregation occurred, DA autoxidation was pre- vented because no black suspensions were detected over the time, irrespec- tively of the temperature assayed. From a biological viewpoint, release studies of CS NPs loaded with DA and GSE showed that in SHSY-5Y cell lines DA accumulation was time-dependent, irrespectively of the presence of GSE. Furthermore, ROS levels and carbonylated proteins both de- creased in SHSY-5Y cell line once NPs administering both DA and GSE were incubated, suggesting a significative reduction of oxidative stress which plays a significative role for PD development.