Chitosan-based drug delivery systems

Within the past 20 years, a considerable amount of work has been published on chitosan and its potential use in drug delivery systems. In contrast to all other polysaccharides having a monograph in a pharmacopeia, chitosan has a cationic character because of its primary amino groups. These primary amino groups are responsible for properties such as controlled drug release, mucoadhesion, in situ gellation, transfection, permeation enhancement, and efflux pump inhibitory properties. Due to chemical modifications, most of these properties can even be further improved. Within this review, an overview on the advantages of chitosan for various types of drug delivery systems is provided. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V.