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Review
. 2018 Apr 23;10(4):462.
doi: 10.3390/polym10040462.

Biomedical Applications of Chitosan and Its Derivative Nanoparticles

Dongying Zhao  1 , Shuang Yu  2 , Beini Sun  3 , Shuang Gao  4 , Sihan Guo  5 , Kai Zhao  6
Affiliations
Review

Biomedical Applications of Chitosan and Its Derivative Nanoparticles

Dongying Zhao et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Chitosan is a biodegradable natural polymer with many advantages such as nontoxicity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. It can be applied in many fields, especially in medicine. As a delivery carrier, it has great potential and cannot be compared with other polymers. Chitosan is extremely difficult to solubilize in water, but it can be solubilized in acidic solution. Its insolubility in water is a major limitation for its use in medical applications. Chitosan derivatives can be obtained by chemical modification using such techniques as acylation, alkylation, sulfation, hydroxylation, quaternization, esterification, graft copolymerization, and etherification. Modified chitosan has chemical properties superior to unmodified chitosan. For example, nanoparticles produced from chitosan derivatives can be used to deliver drugs due to their stability and biocompatibility. This review mainly focuses on the properties of chitosan, chitosan derivatives, and the origin of chitosan-based nanoparticles. In addition, applications of chitosan-based nanoparticles in drug delivery, vaccine delivery, antimicrobial applications, and callus and tissue regeneration are also presented. In summary, nanoparticles based on chitosan have great potential for research and development of new nano vaccines and nano drugs in the future.

Keywords: biomedical application; chitosan and its derivatives; delivery system; nanoparticles.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Synthetic route of chitosan derivatives. (A) N-alkylated chitosan; (B) N-succinylated chitosan; (C) carboxymethyl chitosan.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Synthetic route of chitosan derivatives. (A) N-2-Hydroxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride chitosan; (B) N-2-hydroxypropyl dimethyl ethyl ammonium chloride chitosan; (C) O-2′-hydroxypropyltrimethyl ammonium chloride chitosan.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Synthetic route of chitosan derivatives. (A) Sulfated chitosan; (B) chitosan-g-oligo (L-lactic acid); (C) hydroxyethyl chitosan.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) or scanning force microscopy (SFM) micrographs of synthesized chitosan nanoparticles using six different techniques. (A) SEM micrograph of the nanoparticles modified through emulsion crosslinking. Reproduced with permission from [61]; (B) SEM micrograph of the nerve growth factor-loaded chitosan nanoparticles modified through ionically crosslinking. Reproduced with permission from [62]; (C) SFM micrograph of the chitosan-modified (poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide); PLGA) nanoparticles modified through solvent evaporation. Reproduced with permission from [63]; (D) SEM micrograph of the cellulose-chitosan complex nanoparticles modified through spray drying. Reproduced with permission from [64]; (E) SEM micrograph of the nanoparticles modified through precipitation, reproduced with permission from [66]; (F) SEM micrograph of the chitosan-alginate nanoparticles modified through chitosan solution coating. Reproduced with permission from [67].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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