Futures: Chitosan, Regeneration and Repair

Introduction:Cardiovascular disease constitutes the leading cause of mortality throughout the world, and immensely influences quality of life. Although, an excess of interesting concepts in the emerging field of tissue engineering are reported, many challenges still remain unwrapped.Body:Tissue engineering as a developing biotechnology division aims at the regeneration and repair of damaged tissues and promises to deeply change life quality. In this regard, use of biomimetic scaffolds for treatment of cardiovascular disease is always preferable. Chitosan is a chitin derivative and is embedded in a protein matrix of a crustacean shell or a squid pen. It is similar to glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in structure. Chitosan can be used as a cell scaffold or carrier for controlled and localized drug delivery because of its porous sponge structure. Previous studies reported the beneficial contribution of chitosan in cardiovascular disease. chitosan-hydrogel, and hyaluronan/silk fibroin patch improved stem cell engraftment and survival by enhancing oxidative stress in the ischemic heart through reactive oxygen species scavenging and chemokine recruitment. In addition, chitosan-collagen hydrogel improved neovascularization and heart function. Furthermore, chitosan-collagen hydrogel enhanced endothelial cell function and survival by delivering angiopoietin-1 analogue which alleviated endothelial cell apoptosis and stimulated endothelial cell tube-like structure formation. Finally, grafting of a chitosan-hyaluronan/silk fibroin patch in an infarcted rat left ventricle (LV) led to reducing LV dilatation, increasing wall thickness and consequently heart function improved.Conclusion:Chitosan is a promising topic of research for future studies concerning biomaterial treatment as candidate for cardiovascular disease.

Keywords:

Chitosan , Tissue engineering , Regeneration , Repair