The implications of recent advances in carboxymethyl chitosan based targeted drug delivery and tissue engineering applications

Over the last decade carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) has emerged as a promising biopolymer for the development of new drug delivery systems and improved scaffolds along with other tissue engineering devices for regenerative medicine that is currently one of the most rapidly growing fields in the life sciences. CMCS is amphiprotic ether, derived from chitosan, exhibiting enhanced aqueous solubility, excellent biocompatibility, controllable biodegradability, osteogenesis ability and numerous other outstanding physicochemical and biological properties. More strikingly, it can load hydrophobic drugs and displays strong bioactivity which highlight its suitability and extensive usage for preparing different drug delivery and tissue engineering formulations respectively. This review provides a comprehensive introduction to various types of CMCS based formulations for delivery of therapeutic agents and tissue regeneration and further describes their preparation procedures and applications in different tissues/organs. Detailed information of CMCS based nano/micro systems for targeted delivery of drugs with emphasis on cancer specific and organ specific drug delivery have been described. Further, we have discussed various CMCS based tissue engineering biomaterials along with their preparation procedures and applications in different tissues/organs. The article then, gives a brief account of therapy combining drug delivery and tissue engineering. Finally, identification of major challenges and opportunities for current and ongoing application of CMCS based systems in the field are summarised.