Abstract
Chitosan begins its humble journey from marine food shell wastes and ends up as a versatile nutraceutical. This review focuses on briefly discussing the antioxidant activity of chitosan and retrospecting the accomplishments of chitosan nanoparticles as an anticarcinogen. The various modified/functionalized/encapsulated chitosan nanoparticles and nanoforms have been listed and their biomedical deliverables presented. The anticancer accomplishments of chitosan and its modified composites have been reviewed and presented. The future of surface modified chitosan and the lacunae in the current research focus have been discussed as future perspective. This review puts forth the urge to expand the scientific curiosity towards attempting a variety of functionalization and surface modifications to chitosan. There are few well known modifications and functionalization that benefit biomedical applications that have been proven for other systems. Being a biodegradable, biocompatible polymer, chitosan-based nanomaterials are an attractive option for medical applications. Therefore, maximizing expansion of its bioactive properties are explored. The need for applying the ideal functionalization that will significantly promote the anticancer contributions of chitosan nanomaterials has also been stressed.
Highlights
The biopolysaccharide chitosan is recovered from chitin through the deacetylation process
Chitosan has been formulated as polymeric nanoparticles for oral drug delivery by conjugating antioxidants, catechin and epigallocatechin with chitosan nanoparticles
Propranolol-chitosan nanoparticles of transdermal gels to improve the systemic bioavailability of the drug EFF-Cg nanocomposites chitosan film containing PLGA NPs, showed low toxicity Preparation of alginate and pectin chitosan nanoparticles for oral drug delivery Chitosan films with insulin loaded
Summary
The biopolysaccharide chitosan is recovered from chitin through the deacetylation process. Chitosan has an amino group at the C2 position of each deacetylated unit and hydroxyl groups at the C6 and C3 positions These play a significant role while modifying chitosan for enhancing its biological activity. Chitosan and its derivatives have been extensively applied into medical and pharmaceutical applications (Figure 1) This is because of their highly competitive biological properties that include: biocompatibility, biodegradability, hypocholesterolemic, antimicrobial, nontoxic and antitumor, analgesic, hemostatic, and antioxidant properties [11,12]. These properties promote chitosan as an ideal candidate for biomedical applications, wound healing, tissue engineering, and for drug and gene delivery [13,14,15,16,17]. The need for furtherance of more such nanochitosan modifications and their prospective candidature in expanding its bio-applicability has been speculated and discussed as a future perspective
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