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Abstract
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Herein, 5-fluorouracil and shikonin (extracted from Fusarium tricinctum) were loaded in chitosan/pectin nano-
particle (CS/PEC-NPs), prepared by blending (B-CS/PEC-NPs) and coating (C-CS/PEC-NPs) methods. The
nanoparticles characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy-dispersive X-
ray (EDX), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Differential Light Scattering (DLS). Then, some properties of
the nanoparticles such as drug release rate and the nanoparticles cytotoxicity were studied. The FTIR, XRD, EDX,
SEM and DLS results showed that the nanoparticles synthesized properly with an almost spherical morphology,
an average size of 82–93 nm for B-CS/PEC-NPs, an average diameter of below 100 nm (mostly 66–89 nm) for C-
CS/PEC-NPs, and hydrodynamic diameter of 310–817 nm. The drug release results indicated the lower release
rate of drugs for B-CS/PEC-NPs relative to C-CS/PEC-NPs at different pHs, high release rate of drugs for the
nanoparticles in the simulated large intestinal fluids containing pectinase, and Korsmeyer-Peppas model for
release of the drugs. The results showed more cytotoxicity of B-CS/PEC-NPs containing drugs, especially B-CS/
PEC-NPs containing both drugs (B-CS/PEC/5-FU/SHK-NPs) after treating with pectinase (IC50 of 18.6 μg/mL). In
conclusion, despite the limitation of C-CS/PEC-NPs for simultaneous loading of hydrophilic and hydrophobic
drugs, B-CS/PEC-NPs showed suitable potency for loading and targeted delivery of the drugs.
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