Abstract
Chitosan has excellent properties, as it is nontoxic, mucoadhesive, biocompatible, and biodegradable. However, the poor water solubility of chitosan is a major disadvantage. Here, a novel chitosan-sodium carbonate complex was formed by adding a large amount of sodium carbonate to a chitosan/acetic acid solution, which is water-soluble. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance techniques were used to detect and characterize the aforementioned complex, which appeared to be a neat flake crystal. Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) was used to verify the connections between carbonate, sodium ions, and the protonated amino group in chitosan on the basis of 13C signals at the chemical shift of 167.745 ppm and 164.743 ppm. Further confirmation was provided by the strong cross-polarization signals identified by the SSNMR 2D 13C–1H frequency-switched Lee–Goldberg heteronuclear correlation spectrum. The cytotoxicity of a film prepared using this complex was tested using rat fibroblasts. The results show that the film promoted cell proliferation, which provides evidence to support its nontoxicity. The ease of film-forming and the results of cytocompatibility testing suggest that the chitosan-sodium carbonate complex has the potential for use in tissue engineering.
Highlights
Chitosan (chemical name: polyglucosamine(1-4)-2-amino-β-D-glucose) is obtained by the deacetylation of chitin, and it is widely found in the exoskeleton of crustaceans, e.g., crab shells, lobsters, and shrimp [1]
Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometry was used to monitor the structural changes in chitosan (A), the complex of chitosan-sodium carbonate (B), and restored chitosan (C)
As the L929 fibroblast cell line is commonly used to determine the cell proliferation rate, the effect of the chitosan-sodium carbonate commonly used to determine the cell proliferation rate, the effect of the chitosan-sodium carbonate complex was assessed in this cell line by using the MTT assay [28,29]
Summary
Chitosan (chemical name: polyglucosamine(1-4)-2-amino-β-D-glucose) is obtained by the deacetylation of chitin, and it is widely found in the exoskeleton of crustaceans, e.g., crab shells, lobsters, and shrimp [1] This natural polymer has excellent properties, as it is nontoxic, mucoadhesive, biocompatible, and biodegradable. The amino groups on the chitosan chain are protonated and the positive charge is increased; the polysaccharide chains repel each other to achieve a dissolution effect [6,7]. This is the main disadvantage of chitosan when used as a pharmaceutical excipient, especially when the drug is unstable under acidic conditions
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