Chitosan as an Underrated Polymer in Modern Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Chitosan is one of the most well-known and characterized materials applied in tissue engineering. Due to its unique chemical, biological and physical properties chitosan is frequently used as the main component in a variety of biomaterials such as membranes, scaffolds, drug carriers, hydrogels and, lastly, as a component of bio-ink dedicated to medical applications. Chitosan’s chemical structure and presence of active chemical groups allow for modification for tailoring material to meet specific requirements according to intended use such as adequate endurance, mechanical properties or biodegradability time. Chitosan can be blended with natural (gelatin, hyaluronic acid, collagen, silk, alginate, agarose, starch, cellulose, carbon nanotubes, natural rubber latex, κ-carrageenan) and synthetic (PVA, PEO, PVP, PNIPPAm PCL, PLA, PLLA, PAA) polymers as well as with other promising materials such as aloe vera, silica, MMt and many more. Chitosan has several derivates: carboxymethylated, acylated, quaternary ammonium, thiolated, and grafted chitosan. Its versatility and comprehensiveness are confirming by further chitosan utilization as a leading constituent of innovative bio-inks applied for tissue engineering. This review examines all the aspects described above, as well as is focusing on a novel application of chitosan and its modifications, including the 3D bioprinting technique which shows great potential among other techniques applied to biomaterials fabrication.

Chitosan Coating on Quartz Crystal Microbalance Gas Sensor for Isopropyl Alcohol and Acetone Detection

“…Chitosan as sensing layer is known as a natural biopolymer [22], [23]. It consists of hydroxyl group (-OH bond), carbonyl compounds, and aliphatic amines [20], [24], [25].…”

Applications of Chitosan-Alginate-Based Nanoparticles—An Up-to-Date Review

“…Thus, numerous polysaccharide and protein-based nanosystems have recently emerged as potential drug delivery platforms. Out of the plethora of possibilities, marine-sourced carbohydrates are among the most researched materials for biomedical purposes, benefiting from wide availability, abundance, simplicity of fabrication, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and ease of functionalization [10][11][12][13]. Chitosan and alginate are two of the most studied polymers of this sort, being the base materials for a multitude of drug carriers, wound dressings, and tissue engineering scaffolds [14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

A Guide to Polysaccharide-Based Hydrogel Bioinks for 3D Bioprinting Applications

“…However, chitosan is the most remarkable derivative of chitin, obtained through the enzymatic or chemical deacetylation of the starting material to variable extents (higher than 50%). Typically, chitosan is obtained with a molecular weight of 50 to 2000 kDa, and because of the deacetylation, it is positively charged and soluble in slightly acidic aqueous solutions, and it is well-known for its antimicrobial properties [ 179 , 184 ]. Chitosan forms hydrogels by treatment with multivalent anions, such as glycerophosphate and tripolyphosphate [ 185 ].…”