Preparation and Characterization of Chitosan/Fish Scale Collagen/Lovastatin Nanocomposites

In this study, a polymeric drug delivery system based on chitosan and fish scale collagen was fabricated in the nanometer size by the emulsification method for loading lovastatin drug—a poorly water soluble drug for the treatment of reduction of cholesterol concentration in blood. An interesting point of this work is using collagen extracted from fresh water fish scales. The characteristics, properties, morphology and drug release control ability of the chitosan/collagen/lovastatin nanocomposites were evaluated by Infrared spectroscopy (IR), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Ultraviolet–Visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis) methods. The obtained results showed that the chitosan/collagen/lovastatin nanocomposites are in spherical shape with the size of particles ranged from 72.1 to 444.0 nm. The chitosan/collagen system can improve the solubility and bioavailability of lovastatin in simulated gastric and intestine fluids. The drug release mechanism from chitosan/collagen/lovastatin nanocomposites was complied with the Korsmeyer-Peppas model. In addition, the in vivo test on mice of chitosan/collagen/lovastatin nanocomposites to investigate their toxicity was conducted and discussed. Graphic Abstract