Characterization of Chitosan and fabrication of Chitosan hydrogels matrices for biomedical applications

The development of injectable hydrogels for drug delivery is a major challenge. Chitosan is a copolymer of N-acetylglucosamine and glucosamine units and is represented as a copolymer. Chitosan occurs in nature in the cell walls of some fungi, exoskeletons of insects and marine animals such as crabs and prawns. Chitosan and its derivatives possess a wide range of useful properties. They are biodegradable, and biocompatible with antibacterial and antioxidant activities. They are useful in drug delivery formulations and tissue engineering. The objective of the present study was to characterize chitosan, prepare chitosan hydrogels and study the gelation of this hydrogels over time. Chitosan with DDA% ∼ 80%–90% were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, conductimetry and pH-metry. In addition, chitosan hydrogels were prepared using an ionic gelation method making it suitable for biomedical applications