Langmuir Monolayer Studies of Phosphatidylcholine Membranes with Naproxen on the Polysaccharide Subphase

Natural polysaccharides are biocompatible and biodegradable; therefore, they can be widely used in drug delivery, tissue engineering and wound healing. In this context, the interactions between polysaccharides, drugs and biological membranes are of great interest. In this paper, a 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) monolayer was used as a model membrane to study the interactions with polysaccharides: chitosan (Ch) and/or hyaluronic acid (HA) and a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) naproxen (NAP). The changes in the physicochemical properties of the model membrane were characterized by means of the Langmuir monolayer technique combined with Brewster angle microscopy (BAM). Compression/adsorption isotherms and morphology images were obtained at 20 °C. They allowed us to determine the effect of the subphase type (Ch, HA, Ch–HA) on the behavior of DPPC monolayers in the absence and presence of NAP, their elasticity, morphology and stability as a function of time. A potential mode of interactions between the phospholipid, polysaccharides and drug responsible for the change in membrane properties was proposed. These interactions regulate the efficiency of drug delivery systems, being of importance for living organisms in pain relief and wound healing.