Literature review
21
3. Chitosan in Drug Delivery
The utilization of polymers in drug delivery has been a significant advancement in the field of
biomedicine and industry. Amongst the various biopolymers investigated for these applications,
chitosan stands out owing to its superior biological and physiochemical properties. The
distinctive feature of this biopolymer is its cationic character attributed to its amino groups.
This cationic nature is the basis for a plethora of properties exhibited by chitosan, including
controlled drug release, mucoadhesion, in situ gelation, transfection, permeation enhancement,
and efflux pump inhibitory properties. (AHMED and IKRAM, 2017).
Initially, chitosan hydrochloride was approved in 2002 by the Pharmacopeia. Chitosan was first
introduced as an excipient into the European Pharmacopeia 6.0 and the 29th edition of the
United States Pharmacopeia (USP) 34-NF almost ten years later. The increase in the number of
publications regarding the use of this polymer in drug delivery is shown in Figure , and reveals
a strong increase since 2002 that is still maintained today. (ARANAZ et al., 2021).
4. Wounds and burns healing
The skin, which constitutes about 15% of our body weight, plays a vital role in regulating body
temperature, preventing water loss, and shielding internal organs from the environment. It
consists of three main layers: the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis (Figure 16), The goals of
wound healing are preventing infection, maintaining a moist environment, wound protection,
and minimum scar formation. (HASAN et al., 2022).
Figure 15 : Publications about chitosan drug delivery in Scopus
(1987–2020).
21
3. Chitosan in Drug Delivery
The utilization of polymers in drug delivery has been a significant advancement in the field of
biomedicine and industry. Amongst the various biopolymers investigated for these applications,
chitosan stands out owing to its superior biological and physiochemical properties. The
distinctive feature of this biopolymer is its cationic character attributed to its amino groups.
This cationic nature is the basis for a plethora of properties exhibited by chitosan, including
controlled drug release, mucoadhesion, in situ gelation, transfection, permeation enhancement,
and efflux pump inhibitory properties. (AHMED and IKRAM, 2017).
Initially, chitosan hydrochloride was approved in 2002 by the Pharmacopeia. Chitosan was first
introduced as an excipient into the European Pharmacopeia 6.0 and the 29th edition of the
United States Pharmacopeia (USP) 34-NF almost ten years later. The increase in the number of
publications regarding the use of this polymer in drug delivery is shown in Figure , and reveals
a strong increase since 2002 that is still maintained today. (ARANAZ et al., 2021).
4. Wounds and burns healing
The skin, which constitutes about 15% of our body weight, plays a vital role in regulating body
temperature, preventing water loss, and shielding internal organs from the environment. It
consists of three main layers: the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis (Figure 16), The goals of
wound healing are preventing infection, maintaining a moist environment, wound protection,
and minimum scar formation. (HASAN et al., 2022).
Figure 15 : Publications about chitosan drug delivery in Scopus
(1987–2020).