Application of chitosan polymeric carriers as controlled drug delivery systems

Subject Areas : Polymers and Organic Structures

Milad  Ghezelsofloo ¹ (Department of Chemistry, Shiraz University, Shiraz 7194684795, I.R. Iran)
Abdulhamid  Dehghani ² (Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Kashan University, Kashan, Iran)
Soheila  Ghasemi ³ (Department of Chemistry, Shiraz University, Shiraz 7194684795, I.R. Iran)

Received: 2023-02-20 Accepted : 2023-03-07 Published : 2022-08-23

Keywords: Drug delivery, Controlled release, Biomedical, Natural polysaccharide, Chitosan,

Abstract :

In recent decades, natural polymers, especially polysaccharides, have been used as carrier to deliver a wide range of therapeutic agents. Chitosan, the second most abundant natural polysaccharide after cellulose, is a biocompatible, biodegradable, hydrophilic, non-toxic, high bioavailability polymer with the ability to form films, gels, nanoparticles, microparticles, and granules. Chitosan is a linear polysaccharide obtained by deacetylation of chitin. Also, biodegradable chitosan in the human body is broken down into safe compounds (amino sugars) that are easily absorbed. Chitosan has hydroxyl and amine chemical functional groups that can be modified to achieve specific goals and turn it into a polymer with a wide range of potential applications. The aim of this paper is to provide insight into the potential applications of chitosan as a drug carrier. In the following, the use of chitosan to build deliverable sustainable delivery systems in other ways (oral, nasal, ocular, mucosal adhesion, buccal, and vaginal) is discussed. This report shows that research on chitosan-based systems containing different drugs for various therapeutic applications such as cancer treatment, gastrointestinal diseases, lung diseases, drug delivery to the brain and eye infections has increased in recent years.