Implantable applications of chitin and chitosan

Chitin, extracted primarily from shellfish sources, is a unique biopolymer based on the N-acetyl-glucosamine monomer. More than 40 years have lapsed since this biopolymer had aroused the interest of the scientific community around the world for its potential biomedical applications. Chitin, together with its variants, especially its deacetylated counterpart chitosan, has been shown to be useful as a wound dressing material, drug delivery vehicle...