ABSTRACT
Chitosan is obtained by N-deacetylation of chitin, which is a cross-linked polymer of N-acetyld-glucosamine and is the major structural component of exoskeletons of arthropods, such as crustaceans and insects, and fungal cell walls. Due to its favorable biological properties, such as nontoxicity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability, chitosan has attracted a lot of attention in biomedical elds. Chitosan has been favored more in these applications owing to its better solubility than that of chitin, and its free amine groups that behave as active sites in many chemical reactions. There has been a lot of interest in the application of chitosan in veterinary medicine for its bioactive properties such as wound healing, tissue regeneration, and hemostatic and antimicrobial effects, and also for its potential applications for drug and vaccine delivery in veterinary species. Chitosan is available for a wide variety of chemically modied derivatives that also nd widespread utilization in such applications.
