Chitin nanofiber biomedical applications

Jayakumar R, Prabaharan M, Nair SV et al (2010) Novel chitin and chitosan nanofibers in biomedical applications. Biotechnol Adv 28 142-150... 

Jayakumar R et al (2010) Novel chitin and chitosan nanofibers in biomedical applications. 

Nanofibrillar chitin hydrogels are biodegradable, biocompatible, and nontoxic, and thus show promise for biomedical applications. The protonation of amino groups on the surface of chitin allows its application in wound dressings due to the antimicrobial properties of cationic gels [130]. Polymeric fibers that mimic the structure and function of the extracellular matrix are also of interest in tissue engineering and cell culture. Chitin nanofibers can promote cell attachment and show potential as extracellular matrix mimics [29, 125]. 

Chitin and chitosan nanofibers, methods for their preparation as weU as their potential biomedical applications, including dressing materials, have been recently reviewed by Pillai et al. [Ill] and Jayakumar et al. (2008). Nevertheless, most of the reported chitin and chitosan nanofiber developments are still at the laboratory scale level thus, optimization of the production process and performance of the fibers are necessary before large-scale manufacturing and commercialization. 

K. Azuma, S. Ifuku, T. Osaki, Y. Okamoto, and S. Minami, Preparation and biomedical applications of chitin and chitosan nanofibers, /. Biomed. Nanotechnol, 10, 2891-2920, 2014. 

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