Chitosan chemistry and pharmaceutical perspectives

The literature published in the last trimester of 2003 includes a number of articles dealing with associations of chitosan with polysaccharides. Chitosans were also modified with pendant lactosyl, maltosyl, and galactosyl groups for a better targeting to certain cells, and a review on succinyl chitosan, a long-lasting chitosan for systematic delivery was published. Other reviews dealt with the antimicrobial activity of chitosans and DNA-chitosan complexes. A number of articles considered the association of chitosan with polylactic acid or similar compounds, another group of articles presented new data on highly cationic chitosans. More data were also made available on the delivery of growth factors and opthalmic drugs, on the activation of complement, macrophages, and fibroblasts, and on mucoadhesion.