Abstract
Chitosan has received much attention as a functional biopolymer for diverse applications, especially in pharmaceutics and medicine. Our recent efforts focused on the chemical and biological modification of chitosan in order to increase its solubility in aqueous solutions and absorbability in the in vivo system, thus for a better use of chitosan. This review summarizes chitosan modification and its pharmaceutical/biomedical applications based on our achievements as well as the domestic and overseas developments: (1) enzymatic preparation of low molecular weight chitosans/chitooligosaccharides with their hypocholesterolemic and immuno-modulating effects; (2) the effects of chitin, chitosan and their derivatives on blood hemostasis; and (3) synthesis of a non-toxic ion ligand—D-Glucosaminic acid from Oxidation of D-Glucosamine for cancer and diabetes therapy.
Highlights
Chitosan, a natural cationic polysaccharide, has received considerable attentions as a functional, renewable, nontoxic and biodegradable biopolymer for diverse applications, especially in pharmaceutics [1], food [2] and cosmetics [3]
We investigated the effects of a commercial lipase from A. oryzae on chitosan hydrolysis systematically with different parameters such as pH, temperature, Degree of acetylation (DA), molecular weights (Mw), viscosity reduction, and qualitatively analyzed COS
These results confirmed the effect of viscosity on hypocholesterolemic activity and indicated that the viscosity was not the major factor influencing the hypocholesterolemic effects of chitosan in the upper gastrointestinal tract
Summary
A natural cationic polysaccharide, has received considerable attentions as a functional, renewable, nontoxic and biodegradable biopolymer for diverse applications, especially in pharmaceutics [1], food [2] and cosmetics [3]. Chitosan has been developed as artificial skin, absorbable surgical suture, and a wound healing accelerator, and as new physiological materials due to their antitumor, immunoenhancing, antimicrobial and hypocholesterolemic properties [4]. These functions have been revealed to be dependent on both their chemical structure and the molecular size. This review focuses on the modification of chitosan by enzymatic hydrolysis and various chemical processes, in combination with pharmaceutical and biomedical applications especially in hypocholesterolemic, immunoenhancing, homeostasic and anticancer functions, based on our current research as well as the recent literature
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