Use of Natural Polysaccharides in Medical Textile Applications

Polysaccharides are composed of many monosaccharide units that are joined one to the other by an acetal linkage to give a long chain. In this work two special polysaccharides have been used as candidates in medical textile applications: chitosan and ß-cyclodextrin. Chitosan has been used as a new finishing agent in medical textile application. Chitosan has been used also as antimicrobial coating agent in modern dentistry to treat denture stomatitis. ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) has been used in this thesis as a drug release candidate in pharmaceutical application. The very low aqueous solubility of both antifungal agents (econazole nitrate and ciclopirox olamine) does not allow the pre­paration of a concentrated stock solution. Therefore, complexation with ß-CD has been improved the aqueous solubilities of both drugs without modification of their original structures,and hence increase their bioavailability. The antimycotic influence of ß-cyclodextrin com­plexes against Candida albicans DSM 11225 and Candida krusei ATCC 6258, hence, the drug solubility has been measured using a new, rapid and novel method called laser nephelometry in microtiter plates.