Impact of Biodegradable Chitosan-Based Coating on Barrier Properties of Papers

Aroma and oxygen-barrier properties of chitosan-coated papers were measured in order to evaluate the potential of these materials as biodegradable materials for food packaging. Firstly, two chitosans (Chi244 and Chi-652) were studied according to their ultimate biodegradability. Chi-652 showed the best final biodegradation rate and was then used for subsequent tests in association with papers. Then, oxygen-barrier and aroma-barrier properties of papers, Chi-652 films and Chi-652-coated papers were investigated. The Chi-652 films exhibited oxygen-barrier at low relative humidity and aroma-barrier comparable to synthetic materials already used in the packaged food industry. Both papers exhibited poor barrier properties toward oxygen and aromas. Although chitosan-coated papers showed promising results in regard to the aroma-barrier performance of papers, it did not improve their oxygen-barrier properties, probably because of the impact of the coating process on the tri-dimensional structure of the papers

An Overview of Chitosan Nanofibers and their Applications in the Drug Delivery Process

Chitosan is a polycationic natural polymer which is abundant in nature. Chitosan has gained much attention as natural polymer in the biomedical field. The up to date drug delivery as well as the nanotechnology in controlled release of drugs from chitosan nanofibers are focused in this review. Electrospinning is one of the most established and widely used techniques for preparing nanofibers. This method is versatile and efficient for the production of continuous nanofibers. The chitosan-based nanofibers are emerging materials in the arena of biomaterials. Recent studies revealed that various drugs such as antibiotics, chemotherapeutic agents, proteins and anti-inflammatory analgesic drugs were successfully loaded onto electrospun nanofibers. Chitosan nanofibers have several outstanding properties for different significant pharmaceutical applications such as wound dressing, tissue engineering, enzyme immobilization, and drug delivery systems. This review highlights different issues of chitosan nanofibers in drug delivery applications, starting from the preparation of chitosan nanofibers, followed by giving an idea about the biocompatibility and degradation of chitosan nanofibers, then describing how to load the drug into the nanofibers. Finally, the major applications of chitosan nanofibers in drug delivery systems