Chitosan is a natural polysaccharide abundant in nature and has exhibited excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, mechanical strength, low-toxic.
It is "obtained by alkaline N-deacetylation of chitin, which is the main component of the exoskeleton of crustaceans, such as shrimps, crabs and lobsters" (1).
It is also a chelating agent and has interesting film-forming properties and is considered to be the cheapest and best performing option for fluoride elimination.
Many studies have focused on its function as a vector, in regenerative medicine, of bioactive molecules (2), of bone tissue regenerator (3), of its potential for tissue engineering on articular cartilage (4).
In-vivo experiments demonstrated that unmodified Chitosan nanoparticles were able to reverse fibrosis with a survival rate of 100% at the end of the study, indicating the ability of Chitosan nanoparticles to deliver functional collagenase to the fibrotic liver and making the use of collagen binding peptides unnecessary (5).
The problem of food preservation could be solved in a sustainable way through chitosan films and coatings. These films and coatings used as essential oil carriers have been shown to reduce lipid peroxidation in both fish and meat products (7).
This study has shown that chitosan and cationically modified chitosan (HTCC) are biomaterials that can be used to improve immune efficacy and improve immune response due to their promising mucoadhesive properties. (8).
With regard to the 'weight loss' effect attributed to chitosan, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Panel, after analysing and evaluating a number of studies, concluded that there is no cause and effect relationship between chitosan consumption and body weight reduction while a cause and effect relationship between chitosan consumption and the maintenance of normal LDL cholesterol levels in the blood was established. The Panel considers that an adult should consume 3 g of chitosan daily to achieve the claimed effect (9),
Warnings
Chitosan may interfere with the action of anticoagulants such as warfarin (10).
Molecular Formula: C56H103N9O39
Molecular Weight: 1526.5 g/mol
Synonyms:
- Chitosan
- Poliglusam
- Chitopearl BC 3000
- Deacetylchitin
- Celox
- Chicol
- Sea Cure F
- Flonac C
- Poly (D-glucosamine)
- Flonac N
- beta-1,4-Poly-delta-glucosamine
- Sea Cure Plus
- SCHEMBL21304990
- Kytex H
- Kytex M
- Kimitsu Chitosan F
- methyl N-[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-5-[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-3-azanyl-5-[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-3-azanyl-5-[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-3-azanyl-5-[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-3-azanyl-5-[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-3-azanyl-5-[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-3-azanyl-6-(hydroxymethyl)-4,5-bis(oxidanyl)oxan-2-yl]oxy-6-(hy
- N-[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-5-[[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-3-amino-5-[[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-3-amino-5-[[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-3-amino-5-[[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-3-amino-5-[[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-3-amino-5-[[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-3-amino-4,5-dihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)-2-oxanyl]oxy]-4-hydroxy-6-(hy
