Chitosan-based nanoparticles in drug delivery

Chitosan is a cationic natural polysaccharide, which is produced from partial deacetylation of chitin by enzymatic hydrolysis by chitin deacetylase or chemical hydrolysis under alkaline conditions. Due to biocompatibility, biodegradability, bioactivity, nonantigenicity, antibacterial, and mucoadhesion properties, chitosan is being exploited in biomedical applications including delivery of drugs, proteins and peptides, hormones, enzymes, etc. Since last decades, a variety of nanoparticles (NPs) prepared using chitosan and its derivatives have been reported for oral delivery, parenteral delivery, topical delivery, and target-specific delivery of numerous drugs to treat various diseases. The current chapter covers all of the latest developments in the formulations of NPs using chitosan and its derivatives for drug delivery applications.