• Macromolecular Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.267-271
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• 2006

Polyelectrolyte complex films were prepared with two compounds, chitosan and poly(ethylene glycol)-monosuccinate, using a casting in order to synthesize a polyelectrolyte complex film with various mole ratios of chitosan and poly(ethylene glycol)-monosuccinate. The solution properties of isolated PEC were investigated for the effects of FTIR, pH value, Brookfield viscosity and cell viability assay using MTT staining. The PEC films were evaluated for mechanical properties by typical stress-strain curve, far thermal properties by DSC and TGA and for surface morphology Properties by SEM. Furthermore, the surface resistance, moisture regain and water content of the films were characterized. The solution properties were affected by several factors including the chitosan content in the PEC, the mixing ratio of PEG and chitosan, and pH. Several PEC in acidic conditions exhibited film formation under appropriate conditions of mixing ratio and chitosan concentration in the mixing process. These PEC films were found to have sufficiently flexible and stable properties due to their hydrophilic structure, which was farmed by the oppositely charged interaction between PEG-MS and chitosan matrix. The results showed the potential applicability of chitosan and poly(ethylene glycol)-monosuccinate films as a biocompatible polymer.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.57-61
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• 2008

Chitosan is normally acylated and subsequently conjugated with drugs for biomedical applications. This study examined the relationship between the succinylation and gelation behaviors of glycol chitosan. Glycol chitosan was acylated with succinic anhydride under a wide variety of reaction conditions, such as different molar ratios of succinic anhydride to glucosamine, different methanol content in the reaction media, and different reaction temperatures. Among these reaction parameters, the methanol content in the solvent played an important role in determining the regioseletive succinylating site. N-succinylation and N-N cross-linking occurred regardless of the reaction conditions. However, O-succinylation was observed under specific conditions, i.e. a methanol content> 0.6 (v/v) and a reaction temperature> $25^{\circ}C$. O-succinylation accelerated the N-O cross-linking of glycol chitosan, and led to gelation. The N-succinylated glycol chitosans were water-soluble, whereas the N-and O-succinylated glycol chitosans fonned a gel. These physico-chemical structural differences in the succinylated glycol chitosans would definitely influence subsequent drug-conjugation reactions and consequently the drug loading and release kinetics.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2017.04a
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• pp.107-107
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• 2017

3D bioprinting is a technology to produce complex tissue constructs through printing living cells with hydrogel in a layer-by-layer process. To produce more stable 3D cell-laden structures, various materials have been developed such as alginate, fibrin and gelatin. However, most of these hydrogels are chemically bound using crosslinkers which can cause some problems in cytotoxicity and cell viability. On the other hand, thermosensitive hydrogels are physically cross-linked by non-covalent interaction without crosslinker, facilitating stable cytotoxicity and cell viability. The examples of currently reported thermosensitive hydrogels are poly(ethylene glycol)/poly(propylene glycol)/poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG-PPG-PEG) and poly(ethylene glycol)/poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) (PEG/PLGA). Chitosan, which have been widely used in tissue engineering due to its biocompatibility and osteoconductivity, can be used as thermosensitive hydrogels. However, despite the many advantages, chitosan hydrogel has not yet been used as a bioink. The purpose of this study was to develop a bioink by chitosan hydrogel for 3D bioprinting and to evaluate the suitability and potential ability of the developed chitosan hydrogel as a bioink. To prepare the chitosan hydrogel solution, ${\beta}-glycerolphosphate$ solution was added to the chitosan solution at the final pH ranged from 6.9 to 7.1. Gelation time decreased exponentially with increasing temperature. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image showed that chitosan hydrogel had irregular porous structure. From the water soluble tetrazolium salt (WST) and live and dead assay data, it was proven that there was no significant cytotoxicity and that cells were well dispersed. The chitosan hydrogel was well printed under temperature-controlled condition, and cells were well laden inside gel. The cytotoxicity of laden cells was evaluated by live and dead assay. In conclusion, chitosan bioink can be a candidate for 3D bioprinting.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.173-178
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• 2011

Injectable chitosan hydrogels have attracted great potential due to sustained-release property and safety. Here, palmityl-acylated glycol chitosan (Pal-GC) was used to generate physically cross-linked hydrogels by virtue of hydrophobic attraction of linear fatty carbons. Glycol chitosan was chemically modified with N-hydroxysuccinimide-activated palmitic acid in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) containing dimethylaminopyridine. Through a series of preparation steps of (i) dialysis with DMSO, (ii) addition of palmityl-acylated exendin-4 (Ex4-C16), and (iii) dialysis with water, Pal-GC was self-assembled to form physically cross-linked hydrogels entrapped with Ex4-C16. The Pal-GC derivative was analyzed by using 1H NMR, and the surface morphology of Pal-GC hydrogels formed was examined by scanning electron microscopy. Also, the hypoglycemic effect induced by Pal-GC hydrogels containing Ex4-C16 (250 nmol/kg) was evaluated in non-fasted type 2 diabetic db/db mice and compared with GC hydrogels containing native Ex4 at the same dose. Results showed that palmityl group was successfully conjugated with the amines of glycol chitosan, and that Pal-GC efficiently generated the hydrogels formation. Moreover, Pal-GC hydrogels containing Ex4-C16 was found to greatly prolong the hypoglycemia duration (~ 4 days). This was due to the dual-functions of the palmityl groups present in both GC and exendin-4 such as hydrophobic attraction and plasma albumin-binding. We consider this new type of self-assembled GC hydrogels loaded with Ex4-C16 would be a promising long-acting sustained-release system with anti-diabetic property.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.263-268
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• 2009

Superporous Hydrogels (SPHs) have been extensively investigated for various biomedical applications due to their fast swelling and superabsorbent properties. In this study, glycol chitosan that is one of most abundant natural polymers was used as a cross-linking agent instead of bisacrylamide (BIS), which is a broadly used crosslinking agent for preparation of SPHs. Glycol chitosan was modified to have reactive vinyl groups by chemical conjugation with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA). The vinyl group-containing glycol chitosan (GC-GMA) was characterized by FT-IR and $^1H$-NMR measurements. SPHs have been prepared in various synthetic conditions to establish the optimum synthetic process for making superporous structure, where the inner pores are interconnected to each other to form a open channel structure. Various SPHs with different GC-GMA contents have been successfully prepared and have been observed to show faster swelling properties than other conventional SPHs. From the study on the swelling behavior of SPHs, the GC-GMA content is considered to be an important factor for controlling their swelling properties.

• Biomaterials Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.249-258
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• 2018

Background: Mucoadhesive polymers, which may increase the contact time between the polymer and the tissue, have been widely investigated for pharmaceutical formulations. In this study, we developed a new polysaccharide-based mucoadhesive polymer with thermogelling properties. Methods: Hexanoyl glycol chitosan (HGC), a new thermogelling polymer, was synthesized by the chemical modification of glycol chitosan using hexanoic anhydride. The HGC was further modified to include thiol groups to improve the mucoadhesive property of thermogelling HGC. The degree of thiolation of the thiolated HGCs (SH-HGCs) was controlled in the range of 5-10% by adjusting the feed molar ratio. The structure of the chemically modified polymers was characterized by $^1H$ NMR and ATR-FTIR. The sol-gel transition, mucoadhesiveness, and biocompatibility of the polymers were determined by a tube inverting method, rheological measurements, and in vitro cytotoxicity tests, respectively. Results: The aqueous solution (4 wt%) of HGC with approximately 33% substitution showed a sol-gel transition temperature of approximately $41^{\circ}C$. SH-HGCs demonstrated lower sol-gel transition temperatures ($34{\pm}1$ and $31{\pm}1^{\circ}C$) compared to that of HGC due to the introduction of thiol groups. Rheological studies of aqueous mixture solutions of SH-HGCs and mucin showed that SH-HGCs had stronger mucoadhesiveness than HGC due to the interaction between the thiol groups of SH-HGCs and mucin. Additionally, we confirmed that the thermogelling properties might improve the mucoadhesive force of polymers. Several in vitro cytotoxicity tests showed that SH-HGCs showed little toxicity at concentrations of 0.1-1.0 wt%, indicating good biocompatibility of the polymers. Conclusions: The resultant thiolated hexanoyl glycol chitosans may play a crucial role in mucoadhesive applications in biomedical areas.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.104-107
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• 2005

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.110-114
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• 1999

The present study was conducted to investigate the preparative methods of agarose for gel electrophoresis from agar. Naturally occuring agar consists of two main polysaccharides, the neutral polysaccharide agarose and the acid sulphated polysaccharide agaropectin. The sulphate and carboxyl functions of the agar are accumulated in the agaropectin. The hydrophilic, non-ionogenic, rigid and transparent gel matrix of the agarose was found to be suitable for gel electrophoresis gel filtration and affinity chromatography. Agar was purified by chitosan treatment, cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) treatment, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatment. Yields of agarose purified from agar with chitosan, CPC and PEG were 56.7%, 55.6% and 62.3%. It was proper to treat with chitosan in preparative methods of agarose for gel electrophoresis from agar.

• Proceedings of the Korean Fiber Society Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.297-298
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• 2003

Chitin is a natural biopolymer that, with its derivative chitosan, has been represented as a biomaterial with considerable potential in wide ranging medical applications. But there are some limitations in using chitosan as attained, for instance, the problem of water solubility$^1$. In order to use chitosan in various applications (e.g. drug carrier), chemical modifications are often necessary$^2$. (omitted)

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.513-519
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• 2007

Self-assembled nanoparticles have great potential to act as vehicles for hydrophobic drug delivery. Understanding nanoparticle cellular internalization is essential for designing drugs intended for intracellular delivery. Here, the endocytosis and exocytosis of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-conjugated glycol chitosan (FGC) self-assembled nanoparticles were investigated by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. The cellular internalization of FGC nanoparticles was initiated by nonspecific interactions between nanoparticles and cell membranes. Although adsorptive endocytosis of the nanoparticles occurred quickly, significant amounts of FGC nanoparticles were exocytosed, particularly in the early stage of endocytosis. The amount of exocytosed nanoparticles was dependent on the pre-incubation time with nanoparticles, suggesting that exocytosis is dependent on the progress of endocytosis. FGC nanoparticles internalized by adsorptive endocytosis were distributed in the cytoplasm, but not in the nucleus. In vitro cell cycle analysis demonstrated that FGC nanoparticles delivered paclitaxel into the cytoplasm and were effective in arresting cancer cell growth.