Pharmaceutical Uses of Chitosan in the Medical Field (original) (raw)

European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies

Two of the considerably versatile and promising biomaterials are chitin and chitosan. Chitin is known to be the most abundant natural amino mucopolysaccharide, produced annually almost as much as cellulose, and it is found in the structure of a wide number of intervertebrates ( crustaceans’ exoskeleton, insects’ cuticles) functioning as a structural component that provides strenght and protection to the organisms, and the cell walls of fungi, among others. On the other hand, chitosan only occurs naturally in some fungi (mucoraceae). The composition of chitin is based on ?(1à4)-linked 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-?-D-glucose (N-acetylglucosamine). Due to their natural origin, both chitin and chitosan are defined as a family of polymers which present a high variability in their chemical and biological properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, mucoadhesion, anticholesterolemic, antitumoral, hemostatic and antimicrobial effect. These characteristics of chitin and chitosan have a maj...