article · Carbohydrate Research
Chitosan is a naturally derived amino polysaccharide produced by deacetylating chitin. It is widely investigated across medical and pharmaceutical fields due to being non-hazardous, biologically compatible, and biodegradable. The polymer's amino and hydroxyl functional groups impart useful characteristics, including mucoadhesion, improved permeability, controlled drug release, in situ gelation, and antibacterial activity. Recent research highlights how chemical and physical modifications yield derivatives and nanomaterials suited for diverse healthcare uses. These include tissue engineering, therapeutic gene transfer, vaccine delivery, and non-parenteral drug administration. In particular, chitosan nanoparticles are being developed for specific administration routes, such as ocular, topical, and transdermal medication delivery, with their application influenced by specific physical properties and medication-binding techniques.
As healthcare seeks safer, biocompatible materials for advanced therapies, biopolymers like chitosan offer versatile alternatives to synthetic carriers. Understanding how chitosan derivatives and nanoparticles interact with biological barriers helps researchers design more effective non-invasive treatments, ranging from sustained eye drops and skin patches to targeted vaccines and tissue scaffolds, without introducing hazardous synthetic side effects.
The work highlights applications in non-parenteral drug delivery systems, tissue engineering scaffolds, and vaccine transport for pharmaceutical and biomedical developers. Because this synthesis covers preliminary investigations, toxicological assessments, and experimental formulation techniques for topical, ocular, and transdermal routes, the technology sits largely at the early-stage to applied laboratory research level rather than being near market.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
The second and most often utilized natural polymer is chitosan (CS), a naturally existing amino polysaccharide that is produced by deacetylating chitin . Numerous applications have been the subject of in-depth investigation due to its non-hazardous, biologically compatible, and biodegradable qualities. Chitosan's characteristics, such as mucoadhesion, improved permeability, controlled release of drugs, in situ gelation process, and antibacterial activity , depend on its amino (-NH 2 ) and hydroxyl groups (-OH). This study examines the latest findings in chitosan research, including its characteristics, derivatives, preliminary research, toxic effects, pharmaceutical kinetics and chitosan nanoparticles (CS-NPs) based for non-parenteral delivery of drugs. Chitosan and its derivatives have a wide range of physical and chemical properties that make them highly promising for use in the medicinal and pharmaceutical industries. The characteristics and biological activities of chitosan and its derivative-based nanomaterials for the delivery of drugs, therapeutic gene transfer, delivery of vaccine, engineering tissues, evaluations, and other applications in medicine are highlighted in detail in the current review. Together with the techniques for binding medications to nanoparticles, the application of the nanoparticles was also dictated by their physical properties that were classified and specified. The most recent research investigations on delivery of drugs chitosan nanoparticle-based medication delivery methods applied topically, through the skin, and through the eyes were considered.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.1016/j.carres.2024.109199
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
