Shakeel Ahmed

A review on chitosan and its nanocomposites in drug delivery

Chitosan the second most abundant next to cellulose, naturally occurring amino polysaccharide, derived as a deacetylated form of chitin. Its nontoxic, biocompatible, antibacterial and biodegradable properties have led to significant research towards biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, such as drug delivery, tissue engineering, wound-healing dressing etc. The primary amine group in chitosan are responsible for its various properties such as cationic nature, controlled drug release, muco-adhesion, in situ gelation, antimicrobial, permeation enhancement etc. This review discusses the various forms of chitosan materials such as beads, films, microspheres, nanoparticles, nanofibers, hydrogels, nanocomposites, etc. as drug delivery device and attempted to report the vast literature available on chitosan based materials in drug delivery applications. Moreover, chitosan derivatives and chitosan nanocomposites with different nanofillers and its application in drug delivery have also been reviewed.

Chitosan: Derivatives, Composites and Applications

This book delves deeply in to the preparation, characterization and multiple applications of chitin and chitosan. The 17 chapters written by leading experts is an excellent reference source and state-of-the-art review for researchers and scientists using chitosan or biopolymers in their respective areas. This book is divided into following sections: • Production and derivatives of chitosan • Chitosan in the textile and food industries • Chitosan in biomedical applications • Chitosan in agriculture and water treatment

Recent Advances in Edible Polymer Based Hydrogels as a Sustainable Alternative to Conventional Polymers

The over increasing demand of eco-friendly materials to counter various problems, such as environmental issues, economics, sustainability, biodegradability, and biocompatibility, open up new fields of research highly focusing on nature-based products. Edible polymer based materials mainly consisting of polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids could be a prospective contender to handle such problems. Hydrogels based on edible polymer offer many valuable properties compared to their synthetic counterparts. Edible polymers can contribute to the reduction of environmental contamination, advance recyclability, provide sustainability, and thereby increase its applicability along with providing environmentally benign products. This review is highly emphasizing on toward the development of hydrogels from edible polymer, their classification, properties, chemical modification, and their potential applications. The application of edible polymer hydrogels covers many areas including the food industry, agricultural applications, drug delivery to tissue engineering in the biomedical field and provide more safe and attractive products in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, and environmental fields, etc.

A review on chitosan centred scaffolds and their applications in tissue engineering

The diversity and availability of biopolymer and increased clinical demand for safe scaffolds lead to an increased interest in fabricating scaffolds in order to achieve fruitful progress in tissue engineering. Chitosan is a biopolymer obtained by de-acetylation of chitin extracted from shells of crustaceans and fungi. Due to the presence of reactive functionality in the molecular chain chitosan can be modified either chemically or physically to fabricate the tailor-made scaffolds having desired properties for tissue engineering centred applications. In this review chitosan, its properties and role either virgin, chemically or physically modified, 2D or 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering application have been highlighted.

Development of Hydrogels from Edible Polymers

Hydrogels are three dimensional crosslinked macromolecular network structures that can absorb and retain a significant amount of water without dissolving in it. This chapter reflects a detailed account on hydrogel developed from edible polymers and their potential applications highly emphasizing on food industries as packaging material. Hydrogels based on edibles polymers offers many valuable properties compared to their synthetic counterparts. Edibles polymers can contribute to the reduction of environmental contamination; advances recyclability, provides sustainability and there by increases its applicability along with providing environmentally benign products. The application of edible polymer hydrogel covers many areas including drug delivery to tissue engineering in biomedical fields, food industries; providing more safe and attractive products, and pharmaceuticals etc. The main objective of this chapter is to provide a brief idea and description about edible polymers based hydrogels, its synthesis, properties and applications.

Chitosan Based Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications

Abstract Chitin and chitosan (CS) are interesting biopolymers that have been widely used in the medical field, particularly in the biomedical area because of their huge ability to undergo changes in structure and mechanical properties to generate new functions and applications. These biopolymers with refined properties can be easily treated in scaffolds, beads, membranes, sponges, and gels. CS is an effective biomedical material for its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and toxicity, as well as its antimicrobial and low immunogenicity, which clearly indicates a tremendous potential for future development. CS has many medicinal properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, low immunogenicity, etc., which increase its potential in various biomedical applications. CS is a matrix material suitable for the uniform stabilization and dispersion of nanoparticles (NPs) in the polymer environment. The properties of nanocomposites depend essentially on the large surface of NPs, which in turn depends on the size and concentration of NP. This chapter discusses several synthesis pathways of NP polymeric compounds. The various techniques for micro/CS preparation also discussed in this chapter. Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine fields are widely using CS-based scaffolds to provide characteristic benefits like conservation of cellular phenotype, tissue regeneration, binding and enhancement of bioactive factor, gene expression control, and extracellular matrix specific tissue deposition. Various types of delivery systems based on CS drugs have been designed to clarify its role in various biomedical applications. In addition, CS biopolymers have been used to produce nanotubes and acts to allow microencapsulation techniques are increasingly under control for the delivery of drugs, biological products, and vaccines. It is likely that each application requires nano/microparticles based on CS designed only with specific dimensions and load release. Gene delivery researchers are widely using biopolymers as a promising nonviral vector. The antimicrobial activity of CS depends on its concentration, molecular weight, degree of substitution, and the type of functional groups added to the CS. The current chapter focuses on various aspects of CS-based nanomaterials, their preparation, and applications for fabric scaffolding, dressings, drug delivery, and cancer diagnosis.