Poly-ε-caprolactone/Chitosan and Chitosan Particles: Two Recombinant Antigen Delivery Systems for Intranasal Vaccination.

Several evidences converge on the idea that among the mucosal administration routes, the nasal mucosa is the most attractive site for the delivery of vaccines. Mucoadhesive particulate adjuvants should be able to increase the residence time of antigens in nasal cavity in order to increase their probability of being taken up by nasopharynx-associated lymphoid tissue (NALT) cells and subsequently to initiate the innate and adaptive immune response. Focusing on chitosan, a mucoadhesive biopolymer, we describe in this chapter a method to prepare antigen loaded chitosan nanoparticles and a second method to prepare antigen loaded poly-ε-caprolactone/chitosan nanoparticles. Additionally the methodology for the assessment of mucoadhesivity of the delivery system is also described. The two critical procedures in mice intranasal immunization experiments include challenges in the intranasal administration itself due to the small mouse nose, and the other is related with the collection of mucosal secretions to assess the sIgA. The techniques are difficult to perform without advanced training. Therefore, protocols followed in our laboratory, as well as some tips, are described in this chapter.