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Chitin and Chitosan Based Materials for Biomedical Applications

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A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Biobased and Biodegradable Polymers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 February 2023) | Viewed by 13083

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jorge Augusto de Moura Delezuk

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Federal Institute of Paraná, Campus Irati, St. Pedro Koppe, 100, Irati, PR 84500-000, Brazil
Interests: nanosensors; biosensors; nanomotors; characterization and applications of nanostructured biomaterials and biopolymers
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Prof. Dr. Sérgio Paulo Campana-Filho

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São Carlos Institute of Chemistry, University of São Paulo, IQSC/USP, Ave. Trabalhador são-carlense, 400, São Carlos 13560-970, SP, Brazil
Interests: chitin; chitosan; chemical derivatization; structural and physcochemical characterization; chitosan-based materials
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are inviting submissions to a Special Issue of the journal Polymers on the subject area of “Chitin and Chitosan Based Materials for Biomedical Applications.” In recent years, several studies have been related to the production and application of biomaterials based on chitin and chitosan. The main advantages to using these polymers are their biocompatibility, biodegradable, non-toxicity to cells, and antimicrobial properties, and they are easily obtainable from renewable sources. In addition to that, chitin and chitosan can be processed into a variety of biomaterials designs, such as membranes, 3D and 2D scaffolds, beads, micro- and nano-particles, fibers, thin films, sponges, and hydrogels. Thus, these polysaccharides are important candidates for medical applications, especially in tissue engineering, drug delivery, gene therapy, wound healing, immunology, stem cell technology and biosensors. This Special Issue aims to show the recent advances in chitin and chitosan biomedical applications and to highlight the potential for further innovative studies.

Prof. Dr. Jorge Augusto de Moura Delezuk
Prof. Dr. Sérgio Paulo Campana-Filho
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Chitin
Chitosan
Biomaterial
Medical Applications
Tissue Engineering
Drug Delivery
Gene Therapy
Wound Healing
Immunology
Stem Cell Technology
Biosensors

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 7715 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Antimicrobial and Antitumoral Activities of Naphthoquinone-Grafted Chitosans

by Fernanda Petzold Pauli, Cyntia Silva Freitas, Patricia Ribeiro Pereira, Alviclér Magalhães, Fernando de Carvalho da Silva, Vania M. F. Paschoalin and Vitor Francisco Ferreira

Polymers 2023, 15(6), 1430; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15061430 - 14 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1678

Abstract

Biopolymers obtained from natural macromolecules are noteworthy among materials presenting high biocompatibility and adequate biodegradability, as is the case of chitosan (CS), making this biopolymeric compound a suitable drug delivery system. Herein, chemically-modified CS were synthetized using 2,3-dichloro-1,4-naphthoquinone (1,4-NQ) and the sodium salt of 1,2-naphthoquinone-4-sulfonic acid (1,2-NQ), producing 1,4-NQ-CS and 1,2-NQ-CS by three different methods, employing an ethanol and water mixture (EtOH:H₂O), EtOH:H₂O plus triethylamine and dimethylformamide. The highest substitution degree (SD) of 0.12 was achieved using water/ethanol and triethylamine as the base for 1,4-NQ-CS and 0.54 for 1,2-NQ-CS. All synthesized products were characterized by FTIR, elemental analysis, SEM, TGA, DSC, Raman, and solid-state NMR, confirming the CS modification with 1,4-NQ and 1,2-NQ. Chitosan grafting to 1,4-NQ displayed superior antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis associated with improved cytotoxicity and efficacy, indicated by high therapeutic indices, ensuring safe application to human tissue. Although 1,4-NQ-CS inhibited the growth of human mammary adenocarcinoma cells (MDA-MB-231), it is accompanied by cytotoxicity and should be considered with caution. The findings reported herein emphasize that 1,4-NQ-grafted CS may be useful in protecting injured tissue against bacteria, commonly found in skin infections, until complete tissue recovery. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chitin and Chitosan Based Materials for Biomedical Applications)

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16 pages, 4017 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Covalent Cross-Linking as a Strategy to Prepare Water-Dispersible Chitosan Nanogels

by Sara Muñana-González, Antonio Veloso-Fernández, Leire Ruiz-Rubio, Leyre Pérez-Álvarez and José Luis Vilas-Vilela

Polymers 2023, 15(2), 434; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15020434 - 13 Jan 2023

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3039

Abstract

Due to the environmental problems generated by petroleum derivative polymers as mentioned in Agenda 2030, the use of natural polymers is increasing. Among them, cellulose and chitin are the most widespread biopolymers available in nature. Chitosan, obtained from chitin, is a really good candidate to develop nanocarriers due to its polyelectrolyte nature and ease of chemical modification. However, chitosan presents a solubility drawback in an aqueous medium at physiological pH (pH = 7.4), which restricts its applicability in biomedicine. In this work, nanogels were successfully synthesized from chitosan systems with different water solubilities (chitosan, oligosaccharide chitosan, and quaternized chitosan) using the reverse microemulsion method and polyethylene glycol diacid (PEGBCOOH) as a covalent cross-linking agent. Cross-linking with PEGBCOOH was analyzed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR), which allowed for nanogels to be prepared whose size and swelling were comparatively studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) and zeta potential, respectively. The particle size of the swollen nanogels showed a different pH-responsive behavior that decreased for chitosan, increased for oligosaccharide chitosan, and remained constant for quaternized chitosan. Nevertheless, a drastic reduction was observed in all cases in the culture medium. Along the same line, the dispersibility of the synthesized nanogels in different media was comparatively evaluated, showing similar values for the nanogels prepared from soluble chitosans than for water insoluble chitosan as a consequence of the cross-linking with PEGBCOOH. After 6 months of storage of the dried nanogels, the water dispersibility values remained constant in all cases, demonstrating the stabilizing effect of the employed cross-linking agent and the potential use of synthesized nanogels as substrates for drug delivery. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chitin and Chitosan Based Materials for Biomedical Applications)

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12 pages, 4497 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Infectious Inflammatory Processes and the Role of Bioactive Agent Released from Imino-Chitosan Derivatives Experimental and Theoretical Aspects

by Loredana Himiniuc, Razvan Socolov, Vlad Ghizdovat, Maricel Agop, Emil Anton, Bogdan Toma, Lacramioara Ochiuz, Decebal Vasincu, Ovidiu Popa and Viviana Onofrei

Polymers 2022, 14(9), 1848; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14091848 - 30 Apr 2022

Viewed by 1650

Abstract

The paper focuses on the development of a multifractal theoretical model for explaining drug release dynamics (drug release laws and drug release mechanisms of cellular and channel-type) through scale transitions in scale space correlated with experimental data. The mathematical model has been developed for a hydrogel system prepared from chitosan and an antimicrobial aldehyde via covalent imine bonds. The reversible nature of the imine linkage points for a progressive release of the antimicrobial aldehyde is controlled by the reaction equilibrium shifting to the reagents, which in turn is triggered by aldehyde consumption in the inhibition of the microbial growth. The development of the mathematical model considers the release dynamic of the aldehyde in the scale space. Because the release behavior is dictated by the intrinsic properties of the polymer–drug complex system, they were explained in scale space, showing that various drug release dynamics laws can be associated with scale transitions. Moreover, the functionality of a Schrödinger-type differential equation in the same scale space reveals drug release mechanisms of channels and cellular types. These mechanisms are conditioned by the intensity of the polymer–drug interactions. It was demonstrated that the proposed mathematical model confirmed a prolonged release of the aldehyde, respecting the trend established by in vitro release experiments. At the same time, the properties of the hydrogel recommend its application in patients with intrauterine adhesions (IUAs) complicated by chronic endometritis as an alternative to the traditional antibiotics or antifungals. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chitin and Chitosan Based Materials for Biomedical Applications)

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16 pages, 3836 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigation of the Role and Effectiveness of Chitosan Coating on Probiotic Microcapsules

by Lóránd Erdélyi, Ferenc Fenyvesi, Bernadett Gál, Ádám Haimhoffer, Gábor Vasvári, István Budai, Judit Remenyik, Ilona Bereczki, Pálma Fehér, Zoltán Ujhelyi, Ildikó Bácskay, Miklós Vecsernyés, Renátó Kovács and Judit Váradi

Polymers 2022, 14(9), 1664; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14091664 - 20 Apr 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3194

Abstract

Microencapsulation and coating are preferred methods to increase the viability of the probiotic strains. The effect of microencapsulation technologies and materials used as microcapsule cores on viability is being investigated during development. In the present study, chitosan-coated and Eudragit L100-55-coated alginate microspheres were produced to encapsulate Lactobacillus plantarum probiotic bacteria. After the heat loading and simulated gastrointestinal juice dissolution study, the differences in viability were compared based on the CFU/mL values of the samples. The kinetics of the bacterial release and the ratio of the released live/dead cells of Lactobacillus plantarum were examined by flow cytometry. In all cases, we found that the CFU value for the chitosan-coated samples was virtually zero. The ratio of live/dead cells in the 120 min samples was significantly reduced to less than 20% for chitosan, while it was nearly 90% in the uncoated and Eudragit L100-55-coated samples. In the case of chitosan, based on some published MIC values and the amount of chitosan coating determined in the present study, we concluded the reason for our results. It was the first time to determine the amount of the released chitosan coat of the dried microcapsule, which reached the MIC value during the dissolution studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chitin and Chitosan Based Materials for Biomedical Applications)

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16 pages, 12544 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study on the Incorporation of Chitosan Flakes in Electrospun Polycaprolactone Scaffolds

by Diana Querido, Tânia Vieira, José Luís Ferreira, Célia Henriques, João Paulo Borges and Jorge Carvalho Silva

Polymers 2022, 14(8), 1496; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14081496 - 7 Apr 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2496

Abstract

Hybrid scaffolds obtained by combining two or more biopolymers are studied in the context of tissue regeneration due to the possibility of achieving new functional properties or structural features. The aim of this work was to produce a new type of hybrid polycaprolactone (PCL)/chitosan (CS) electrospun mat through the controlled deposition of CS flakes interspaced between the PCL fibers. A poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) solution was used to transport CS flakes with controlled size. This, and the PCL solution, were simultaneously electrospun onto a rotatory mandrel in a perpendicular setup. Different PCL/CS mass ratios were also studied. The morphology of the resulting fibers, evaluated by SEM, confirmed the presence of the CS flakes between the PCL fibers. The addition of PEO/CS fibers resulted in hydrophilic mats with lower Young’s modulus relatively to PCL mats. In vitro cell culture results indicated that the addition of CS lowers both the adhesion and the proliferation of human dermal fibroblasts. The present work demonstrates the feasibility of achieving a controlled deposition of a polymeric component in granular form onto a collector where electrospun nanofibers are being deposited, thereby producing a hybrid scaffold. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chitin and Chitosan Based Materials for Biomedical Applications)

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