Publications in March 2011

127 papers about chitosan were published in March 2011. In terms of number of publications China and the USA again were the top countries with 35 and 15 publications about chitosan and its derivates followed by India with 9 publications. Most papers dealt with the topics pharmaceutical preparations (33 publications), evaluation studies (31 publications) and nano-particles (26 publications).  The table shows the journals which published most papers about chitosan and its derivates.

Table: Journals with the most publications about chitosan and its derivatives

Below three different publications are shortly introduced. They are about the use of chitosan in development of blood contact devices, chitosan in the field of bone repair and cancer detection systems.

Dual-functional composite with anticoagulant and antibacterial properties based on heparinized silk fibroin and chitosan

Wang, Jianglin, Hu, Wei, Liu, Qun, Zhang, Shengmin, Colloids and surfaces. B, Biointerfaces, 2011

The working group of Wang developed a dual-functional composite with anticoagulant and antibacterial properties using heparinized silk fibroin and chitosan. Therefore heparin was covalent immobilized onto silk fibroin with N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N'-ethylcarbodiimide and N-hydroxysuccinimide. Then they used a blending method to synthesize the dual-functional composite of heparinized silk fibroin and chitosan. The working group showed that heparinized silk fibroin as well as the composite material has better hemocompatibility than single silk fibroin or chitosan alone. They also found a significantly enhanced antibacterial activity against Stapphylococcus aureus.

 
In vitro biomechanical and biocompatible evaluation of natural hydroxyapatite/chitosan composite for bone repair

Lü, Xiaoying, Zheng, Buzhong, Tang, Xiaojun, Zhao, Lifeng, Lu, Jieyan, Zhang, Zhiwei, Zhang, Jizhong, Cui, Wei, Journal of applied biomaterials & biomechanics : JABB, 2011

Lü et al. developed a natural hydroxyapatite/chitosan (HA/CS) composite for bone repair and evaluate biochemical properties and biocompatibility. They found that the chitosan content exhibit a significant influence on mechanical properties and microstructure of the composite. The pH value of this composite was 7.0 and thus very close to the pH of human plasma. The team observed neither cytotoxicity, irritation, teratogenicity, carcinogenicity nor special pyrogens.

 
A prototype of giant magnetoimpedance-based biosensing system for targeted detection of gastric cancer cells

Chen, Lei, Bao, Chen-Chen, Yang, Hao, Li, Ding, Lei, Chong, Wang, Tao, Hu, Heng-Yao, He, Meng, Zhou, Yong, Cui, Da-Xiang, Biosensors & bioelectronics, Vol. 26 (7): 3246-53, 2011

The authors of this article combined the giant magnetoimpedance (GMI)-based biosensing system and RGD-4C peptide coupled, chitosan covered superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (RGD-Fe(3)O(4)@chitosan) for targeted detection of gastric cancer cells. The micro electromechanical system (MEMS) technology was used to synthesize the micro-patterned GMI sensor for targeted detection of a ribbon which bases on Co. To obtain functional nano-particles Fe(3)O(4) was coated with chitosan and conjugated with RGD-4C peptides. The system recognizes the targeted cells and thus is of greatest interest for other detection in the field of biomedical applications.

Source: GoPubMed