Delivery of Growth Factors

A number of articles considered the association of chitosan with polylactic acid or similar compounds [47-49] another group of articles presented new data on highly cationic chitosans [ 50 - 55]. More data have also been made available on the delivery of growth factors [56] and ophthalmic drugs [57,58], on the activation of the complement, macrophages [59-61] and fibroblasts [62], on mucoadhesion [63] and functionalization of chitin [64]. The development of new carriers for the delivery of drugs, and the interactions of chitosans with living tissues seem therefore to be major topics in the current research on chitosan. Therefore, this chapter will place emphasis on these aspects. 

A number of routes for the delivery of growth factors, cytokines, and chemokines have been studied in detail. Those routes include (1) oral administration (2) intravenous injection (3) intraperitoneal injection (4) intramuscular injection and (5) subcutaneous injection. Most of the delivery methods for these compounds are accomplished through injection because of their protein nature. 

Luginbuehl V, Meinel L, Merkle HP, Gander B. Localized delivery of growth factors for bone repair. Eur J Pharm Biopharm 2004 58 197-208. 

Heparin-conjugated PLGA scaffolds have been fabricated though techniques such as gas-foaming/salt-leaching and have been used to sustain drug delivery of growth factors like BMP-2 to enhance bone formation [92,93]. 

Southwood LL, Frisbie DD, Kawcak CE. Delivery of growth factors using gene therapy to enhance bone healing. Vet Surg 2004 33 565-78. 

Liu X et al (2014) Delivery of growth factors using a smart porous nanocomposite scaffold to repair a mandibular bone defect. Biomacromolecules 15 1019... 

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