Biomaterials Based on

Chitin and Chitosan in

Wound Dressing
Applications
 Healing restores integrity of the injured tissue and
prevents organisms from deregulation of
homeostasis. The treatment of wounds has
evolved from ancient times. Initially, application of
dressing material was aimed at inhibition of
bleeding, and protection of the wound from
Introduction: environmental irritants as well as water and
electrolyte disturbances
Wound There are three categories of wound dressing:
Dressing biologic, synthetic and biologic-synthetic. Alloskin
and pigskin are biologic dressings commonly used
clinically. Synthetic dressings have a long shelf life,
induce minimal inflammatory reaction and carry
almost no risk of pathogen transmission. Biologic-
synthetic dressings are bilayered and consist of
high polymer and biologic materials
 An ideal dressing should maintain a
moist environment at the wound
interface, allow gaseous exchange, act
as a barrier to microorganisms and
remove excess exudates. It should also
Introduction: be non-toxic, non-allergenic, non-
Wound adherent and easily removed without
trauma, it should be made from a
Dressing readily available biomaterial that
requires minimal processing,
possesses antimicrobial properties and
promotes wound healing.
Wound
Dressing
Material
Properties
 Chitin is a readily available and inexpensive
biological material obtained from invertebrate's
skeleton as well as the cell wall of fungi. It is a
linear 1, 4-linked polymer composed of N-acetyl-D-
glucosamine residues.

Introduction: Chitin and its derivative, chitosan, are

biocompatible, biodegradable, nontoxic, anti-
Chitin and microbial and hydrating agents. Due to these
properties, they show good biocompatibility and
Chitosan positive effects on wound healing.
Chitosan is a non-toxic derivative of chitin,
produced by deacetylation of the chitin using
sodium hydroxide.
Chitin and
Chitosan
Structure
 Chitosan provides a non-protein matrix for 3D tissue
growth and activates macrophages for tumoricidal activity.
It stimulates cell proliferation and histoarchitectural tissue
organization. Chitosan is a hemostat, which helps in natural
blood clotting and blocks nerve endings reducing pain

Introduction: Chitosan will gradually depolymerize to release N-acetyl-β-

D-glucosamine, which helps in ordered collagen deposition
and stimulates increased level of natural hyaluronic acid
Chitin and synthesis at the wound site.

Chitosan
The main advantages of using chitosan over chitin are that
it is mucoadhesive in nature, abundantly available and can
be easily generated using chitin as a precursor.
 The amine groups of chitosan can be further
chemically modified to increase its solubility.
This greatly expands the range of biological
and biomedical applications of chitosan.

Introduction: Chitosan can be converted to different

physical forms such as fibers, powders,
Chitin and pastes, and even films.
Chitosan
The preparation of chitosan scaffolds
employs a vast variety of methods such as
freeze-drying, solvent casting, gas foaming,
liquid hardening, and phase separation.
 A number of techniques, such as phase
separation, self-assembly, and
electrospinning have been developed to
fabricate nanofibrous scaffolds with unique
properties.
Chitosan-
Based Fibrous Among these techniques, electro- spinning
Materials technology has become popular for the
fabrication of tissue engineering scaffolds in
recent years because it is a simple, rapid,
efficient, and inexpensive method for
producing nanofibers by applying a high
voltage to electrically charged liquid.
 Biocompatible carboxyethyl chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol)
(CECS/PVA) nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning
of aqueous CECS/PVA solution as wound dressing
materials.

Chitosan- The potential use of the CECS/PVA electrospun fiber mats

as scaffolding materials for skin regeneration was
evaluated in vitro using mouse fibroblasts (L929) as
Based Fibrous reference cell lines.

Materials
Indirect cytotoxicity assessment of the fiber mats indicated
that the CECS/PVA electrospun mat was non-toxic to the
L929 cell. Cell culture results showed that fibrous mats
were good in promoting the L929 cell attachment and
proliferation This novel electrospun matrix would be used
as potential wound dressing for skin regeneration.
 Bio-inspired bi-layered physical hydrogels that only constituted of
chitosan and water were processed and applied to the treatment of
full- thickness burn injuries.

A first layer constituted of a rigid protective gel that ensured good

Chitosan- mechanical properties and gas exchanges. A second soft and flexible
layer allowed the material to follow the geometry of the wound and
ensured a good superficial contact.
Based
Hydrogels To compare, highly viscous solutions of chitosan were also
considered. Veterinary experiments were performed on pig's skins
and biopsies at days 9, 17, 22, 100 and 293, were analyzed by
Materials histology and immuno-histochemistry.

Only one chitosan material was used for each time. All the results
showed that chitosan materials were well tolerated and promoted a
good tissue regeneration. They induced inflammatory cell migration
and angiogenetic activity favoring a high vascularisation of the neo-
tissue.
 Chitosan gels were used as carriers for rhBMP-2
delivery to improve bone tissue regeneration.
Chitosan nanoparticles containing collagen
materials were used to deliver rhBMP-2

Chitosan- The use of porous chitosan scaffolds supplemented

Based with BMP-2 and insulin-like growth factor–1 (IGF–
1) for the purpose of bone healing.
Hydrogels
Materials Chitosan exhibits cellular growth and proliferation
even without BMP-2 film, but it was shown that
the combination of chitosan with BMP−2 was
capable of differentiating the myoblastic cell line
into an osteoblastic type