Fabricating Consistently Sized Chitosan-Core NanoBioSensors

Doubly labeled chitosan-TPP nanosensors provide a means of studying the effect of nitric oxide and glutamate excitotoxicity in the brain. In order to construct these nanosensors for use in vivo, it is necessary to develop a procedure that results in nanosensor cores of a consistent size. The goal of this project was to investigate various procedures and study the impact of solution temperature, pH, chitosan to TPP ratio, reagent concentration, sonication, and centrifugation on particle size. The optimal procedure involves combining aqueous chitosan and TPP in a 3:1 ratio and stirring at room temperature in 3.33% Acetic acid solution.