Biomedical Application of Chitosan and Chitosan Derivatives: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Chitosan (CS) is a widely known naturally occurring polysaccharide made of chitin. The Low solubility of chitosan in water restricts its use in medical applications. However, several chemical modifications have made chitosan superior in solubility, biocompatibility, biodegradability, stability, and easy functionalization ability. All these favourable properties have increased chitosan’s application in drug delivery and biomedical fields. Chitosan-based nanoparticles or biodegradable controlled-release systems are of great interest to scientists. Layer -by-layer technique is employed to develop hybrid chitosan composites. Such modified chitosan is widely used in wound healing and several tissue engineering approaches. This review brings together the potential of chitosan and its modified form in several biomedical applications.

Recent Advances of Chitosan-Based Hydrogels for Skin-Wound Dressings

“…This type of biopolymer has important applications in tissue regeneration, drug delivery, biofuels, and the food industry [ 31 , 32 ]. Additionally, research has also found that phosphorylated chitosan can be synthesized by grafting by reacting mono(2-methacryloyloxyethyl) phosphate with chitosan, which advantageously imparts amphiphilic properties to the chitosan and increases its antimicrobial activity [ 62 , 63 ].…”

“…In addition to the reactions mentioned above, commonly used chemical modifications of chitosan include glycosylation, sulfation, etherification, thiolation, etc. [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 ]. Research has shown that a chitosan Schiff base containing thiophene, indole, and pyrazole groups and CS was transformed into nanoparticles with high inhibitory activity on tumor cells [ 66 ].…”

“…By blending, chitosan can take on the benefits of other materials, resulting in the better performance of chitosan composites. Common blending materials include drugs, nanoparticles, enzymes, and polymers [ 31 , 62 ].…”

Formation Kinetics and Antimicrobial Activity of Silver Nanoparticle Dispersions Based on N-Reacetylated Oligochitosan Solutions for Biomedical Applications

“…Chitosan and its derivatives have sustained considerable interest for several decades due to its diverse properties that hold significance for medical applications [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Chitosan is actively utilized in the development of medical products, including wound dressings [ 35 , 36 ] and burn wound treatments [ 37 , 38 ], dental compositions [ 39 ], drug delivery systems [ 40 , 41 ], dietary supplements [ 42 ], and various other applications.…”

Electrochemiluminescence Sensor Based on CTS-MoS2 and AB@CTS with Functionalized Luminol for Detection of Malathion Pesticide Residues

“…Chitosan (CTS) is a type of polysaccharide obtained through the deacetylation of chitin. Due to its exceptional film-forming ability, adsorption, biocompatibility, and porous structure, it is widely used in the preparation of electrochemically modified electrodes [30,31]. Moreover, the CTS molecular chain contains -NH 2 and -OH groups that exhibit strong chelation ability for heavy metal ions.…”