Design &Evaluation Of Chitosan Drug Delivery System As Burn & Wound Dressings

Surgeons, dermatologists and general practitioners are still quite confronted with large variety of skin covers for treatment and temporary cover of non intact skin. One category currently in use is the wound and burn dressing which is designed to be removed and replaced at regular intervals.An ideal wound dressing should protect the wound from bacterial infection, and provide a moist and healing environment. The wound cover or dressing is preferred to be biocompatible, inexpensive, readily available with minimal storage requirements and long shelf-life. It would also be an advantage for the material to be haemostatic, transparent (to indicate the presence of infection), and biodegradable as it restores the normal function to the skin.Polymeric films and sponges have been widely and successfully employed as a wound dressing in the pharmaceutical and medicinal fields. With the rapid increase in the use of natural biodegradable polymers, chitosan with its unique properties of chemical modifications and its well known film and sponge forming ability becomes a promising candidate as a topical drug delivery and as expected to provide healing and antibacterial effect to local burned and wounded areas.Chitosan is a linear polyamine with a number of amino groups thatare readily available for chemical reactions and salt formation with acids. The solubility of chitosan in inorganic acids is limited when compared with its solubility in common organic acids such as acetic, lactic, citric, formic, propionic, and glutamic acids.