development of a doxepin-loaded chitosan nanogel for treatment of oral mucositis

Aim and background: due to prevalence and complications of oral mucositis, we aimed to benefit from the wound healing capacity, analgesic effects and antimicrobial properties of doxepin and chitosan to develop a doxepin-loaded chitosan nanogel (dox-csn) as a possible treatment option.methods: chitosan nanogel (csn) was fabricated via ionic gelation. csn was characterized using dynamic light scattering (dls), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ftir) and transmission electron microscopy (tem). in vitro tests were performed to assess cytotoxicity, drug loading efficacy and drug release profile. p-value below 0.05 was considered significant.results and discussion: the particle size of csn ranged from 35 to 100 nm, which may facilitate its efficient penetration into the oral mucosal tissue. the zeta potential was +5.50 ±1.18 mv, which indicates the stability of csn. ftir confirmed the successful encapsulation of doxepin within the chitosan nanogel. tem revealed spherical and uniformly dispersed nanoparticles in the nanogel. in vitro cytotoxicity assays demonstrated that dox-csn exhibited minimal cytotoxicity towards human liver cancer cell line (hepg2). drug loading efficacy of dox-csn was found to be 76%, indicating efficient encapsulation of doxepin within the nanogel. the drug release profile showed burst release of doxepin to 10 hours and sustained over 48 hours, suggesting its potential for controlled and prolonged drug delivery.conclusion: the biocompatibility, efficient drug loading and sustained drug release profile of dox-csn make it a promising treatment option for oral mucositis.