chitin|RONAS CHEMICALS IND.CO.,LTD.

Application of chitin

chitin is widely used in the industries and fields of textile, printing & dyeing, food, agriculture, medicine,healthcare, wastewater treatment, etc.

What are Chitin?
Chitin is one of the most abundant polysaccharides found in nature. It is often considered a cellulose derivative, although it does not occur in organisms producing cellulose. The difference between cellulose and chitin is that the 2-hydroxy group of the cellulose has been replaced with an acetamide group. This results in several Beta-(1 -> 4)-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D- glucopyrnaose structural units (GlcNAc).

Why Chitin?
Chitin and chitin are natural resources waiting for a market. They are waste products of the crabbing and shrimp industry. The U. S. Department of Commerce cited in 1973 that there were over 150,000 metric tons of chitin produced as processing waste from shellfish, krill, clams, oysters, squid, and fungi. Chitin and chitin also have a commercial interest due to their relatively high percentage of Nitrogen (6.89%) compared to synthetically substituted cellulose (1.25%).

Chitin and chitin Processing
The following is a chronological order of the processes needed to produce chitin from crustacean shells.
Crustacean Shell -- Size Reduction -- Protein Separation (NaOH) -- Washing -- Demineralization (HCl) -- Washing and Dewatering -- Chitin -- Deacetylation (NaOH) -- Washing and Dewatering -- chitin
Additionally, cartenoproteins can be extracted from crustacean wastes for use in the production of aquacultured fish.
Areas of Usefulness for Chitin and chitin
Many areas have been investigated to find possible uses for these polymers over the years. The following is a list of potential areas: biomedical applications, paper production, textile finishes, photographic products, cements, heavy metal chelating agents, and waste removal.

Biomedical Uses of Chitin and chitin

Wound Healing
Chitin has been found to have an acceleratory effect on the wound healing process. Regenerated chitin fibers, non-woven mats, sponges, and films show an increase in wound healing by over 30%. Chitin can also be used as a coating on normal biomedical materials. Standard silk and catgut sutures coated with regenerated chitin or chitin show wound-healing activities only slightly lower than the all-chitin fibers. Surgical gauze coated with regenerated chitin demonstrates a substantially greater amount of activity than an uncoated control group.

Burn Treatment
chitin is a very attractive candidate for burn treatment. This is true since chitin can form tough, water-absorbent, biocompatible films. These films can be formed directly on the burn by application of an aqueous solution of chitin acetate. The solution, although acidic, provides a cool and pleasant soothing effect when applied to the open wounds of burn patients. Another advantage of this type of chitin treatment is that it allows excellent oxygen permeability. This is important to prevent oxygen-deprivation of injured tissues. Additionally, chitin films have the ability to absorb water and are naturally degraded by body enzymes. This fact means that the chitin needs not be removed. In most injuries (and especially burns), removing the wound dressing can cause damage to the injury site.

Cell Binding Activity of Chitin
Deacyletylated chitin, or chitin, has been shown to aggressively bind to a variety of mammalian and microbial cells. This property of chitin may lead to a variety of biomedical applications. These possible applications will use chitin as a hemostatic, bacteriostatic, and spermicidal agent.

chitin as a Hemostatic Agent
chitin can be referred to as a polycation. Since the early 1950s, polycations have been known to bind to red blood cells. Many studies since have shown that polycations are effective cellular agglutinating agents. In the early 1960s, chitin was investigated for its agglutinating and binding abilities. It was found that chitin, even at very low concentrations, had the ability to agglutinate red blood cells. This led to chitin's consideration as a hemostatic agent. The agglutination of red blood cells by polycations is dependent both on polymer structure and molecular weight. Out of six common polycations, only chitin was able to effectively initiate gel formation of heparinized blood. chitin with a molecular weight of 35,000 was only able to produce a loose coagulum in heparinized blood, while chitin with molecular weights of 600,000 or above produced firm coagulum.

Mechanism of Cell Binding
The mechanism of binding has also been researched. It is well known that the repulsive force between red blood cells is due to the high net negative charge on the cell membranes. This high negative surface charge is predominantly due to the presence of neurminic acid residues on the cell membrane. Researchers removed this acid by means of the enzyme neuraminidase. This process removed the high net negative charge of the red blood cell. The researchers then looked at the effect of chitin on the modified blood cells. It was determined that chitin did not cause any gelling of the blood cells. Therefore it was concluded that the gel formation of red blood cells is due to the interaction of the positively charged chitin polymer with receptors containing neuraminic acid residues on the cell surface.

Other Biological Applications
chitin provides a diverse spectrum of uses in the biological arena. In addition to the wound healing and burn treatment provided by chitin, it has been shown to reduce serum cholesterol levels. To a certain degree, it has also been shown to stimulate the immune system. chitin, when coated on seeds, results in increased crop yields. Apparently, this is due to chitin inducing a protective response in the germinating plant. chitin has been proven effective for many different applications. This is due in large part to its favorable biological and chemical properties. By understanding these properties, biomedical engineers will be able to fashion better tools to help the medical profession. Below are the useful biological and chemical properties of chitin.

The Future of Chitin and chitin
Chitin and its derivatives show promise for the future. Products produced using chitin have been shown to increase wound healing in animals and humans. Chitin has also demonstrated a physiological compatibility with living tissues. Chitin's ability to form sulfate esters which are non-thrombogenic appears to make it a promising candidate for prosthetic structural devices of any shape or size. Therefore, chitin could serve as replacements for bone, cartilage, arteries, veins, and musculo-fascial replacements. The uses of chitin and chitin are only limited by the creativity of the biomedical engine.