Chitosan and its derivatives for drug delivery perspective

Abstract

Biopolymers are promising materials in the delivery of protein drugs due to their compatibility, degradation behavior, and nontoxic nature on administration. On suitable chemical modification, these polymers can provide better materials for drug delivery systems. Nanostructured drug carriers allow the delivery of not only small-molecule drugs but also of nucleic acids and proteins. The use of biopolymers like dextran, starch, alginate, and pullulan nanoparticles in drug delivery are briefly discussed. Being the only cationic polysaccharide of natural origin, chitosan, a versatile biopolymer of the aminoglucopyran family is being extensively explored for various biomedical and pharmaceutical applications such as drug delivery. In this review, we aim to comprehensively integrate the recent applications of chitosan nano/microparticles in oral and/or buccal delivery, stomach-specific drug delivery, intestinal delivery, colon-specific drug delivery, and gene delivery, giving special emphasis to oral drug delivery. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.