Chemical characterization and healing effect of chitosan with low molar mass and acetylation degree in skin lesions

Several researches look for drugs with healing properties, capable to cure skin lesions. The objective of this study was to chemically characterize one chitosan and evaluate its healing effects in mice skin lesions. The chitosan was characterized in relation to the viscosity, molar mass, acetylation degree, elementary analysis, thermogravimetry and infrared spectroscopy. To evaluate the healing properties of chitosan mices were submitted to tissue excision and treated during 21 days. The macroscopic parameters were weekly evaluated and the microscopic parameters at the end of the experiment. Chitosan presented viscosity of 5 mPa s, low acetylation degree (GA= 5.9%) and molar mass of 132.0 kDa. By elemental analysis, we observed that the composition of chitosan is similar to the formula C₆H₁₁O₄N, its main characteristic bands were observed in the infrared spectrum and the thermogravimetric curve showed two decomposition steps. There was no significant difference on the histology between the control and the treated group after the 21^st day of lesion. Macroscopically, chitosan caused the reduction of 81.4% of the lesions width, which is significantly superior to the observed reduction in the control group (71.2%), thus helping the cure of skin lesions. These results reinforces its potential use for medical application.

degree of acetylation; thermogravimetric analysis; healing properties; chitosan