Prabaharan M, Mano J F
Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics, Department of Polymer Engineering, University of Minho, Guimaraes, Portugal.
Drug Deliv. 2005 Jan-Feb;12(1):41-57. doi: 10.1080/10717540590889781.
Chitosan, a natural-based polymer obtained by alkaline deacetylation of chitin, is nontoxic, biocompatible, and biodegradable. These properties make chitosan a good candidate for conventional and novel drug delivery systems. This article reviews the approaches aimed to associate bioactive molecules to chitosan in the form of colloidal structures and analyzes the evidence of their efficacy in improving the transport of the associated molecule through mucosae and epithelia. Chitosan forms colloidal particles and entraps bioactive molecules through a number of mechanisms, including chemical crosslinking, ionic crosslinking, and ionic complexation. A possible alternative of chitosan by the chemical modification also has been useful for the association of bioactive molecules to polymer and controlling the drug release profile. Because of the high affinity of chitosan for cell membranes, it has been used as a coating agent for liposome formulations. This review also examines the advances in the application of chitosan and its derivatives to nonviral gene delivery and gives an overview of transfection studies that use chitosan as a transfection agent. From the studies reviewed, we concluded that chitosan and its derivatives are promising materials for controlled drug and nonviral gene delivery.
壳聚糖是一种通过甲壳素碱性脱乙酰化获得的天然聚合物，无毒、生物相容且可生物降解。这些特性使壳聚糖成为传统和新型药物递送系统的理想选择。本文综述了旨在将生物活性分子以胶体结构形式与壳聚糖结合的方法，并分析了它们在改善相关分子通过黏膜和上皮细胞转运方面有效性的证据。壳聚糖通过多种机制形成胶体颗粒并包封生物活性分子，包括化学交联、离子交联和离子络合。通过化学修饰对壳聚糖进行的一种可能替代方法也有助于将生物活性分子与聚合物结合并控制药物释放曲线。由于壳聚糖对细胞膜具有高亲和力，它已被用作脂质体制剂的包衣剂。本综述还考察了壳聚糖及其衍生物在非病毒基因递送应用方面的进展，并概述了使用壳聚糖作为转染剂的转染研究。从所综述的研究中，我们得出结论，壳聚糖及其衍生物是用于可控药物和非病毒基因递送的有前景的材料。
