Porous chitosan microspheres containing zinc ion for enhanced thrombosis and hemostasis.

Quick hemostats for non-lethal massive traumatic bleeding in battlefield and civilian accidents are important for reducing mortality and medical costs. Chitosan (CS) has been widely used as a clinic hemostat. To enhance its hemostatic efficiency, Zn2+ in the form of zinc alginate (ZnAlg) was introduced to CS to make porous CS@ZnAlg microspheres with ZnAlg component on the surface. Such microspheres were prepared by successive steps of micro-emulsion, polyelectrolyte adhesion, and thermally induced phase separation. Their structure and hemostatic performance were analyzed by SEM, FT-IR, XPS and a series of in vitro hemostatic experiments including thromboelastography analysis. The composite microspheres had an outer and internal interconnected porous structure. Their size, surface area, and water absorption ratio were ca. 70µm, 48m2/g, and 1850%, respectively. Compared to the neat chitosan microspheres, the CS@ZnAlg microspheres showed shorter onset of clot formation, much faster in vitro and in vivo whole blood clotting, bigger clot, less blood loss, and shorter hemostatic time in the rat liver laceration and tail amputation models. The synergetic hemostatic effects from (1) the electrostatic attraction between chitosan component and red blood cells, (2) the activation of coagulation factor XII by Zn2+ of zinc alginate component, and (3) physical blocking by microsphere matrix, contributed to the enhanced hemostatic performance of CS@ZnAlg microspheres.

Fabrication of porous chitosan membranes composed of nanofibers by low temperature thermally induced phase separation, and their adsorption behavior for Cu2.

Low temperature thermally induced phase separation (LT-TIPS) of chitosan solution was developed to fabricate porous chitosan membranes (p-CSMs), which were composed of short nanofibers with diameter of 40-60nm. Compared to the conventional acetic acid/water solvent, a mixed solvent of acetic acid/ethanol/water was used to prepare chitosan solution. The effect of solvent composition, quenching temperature and time, and coagulant on the p-CSM morphology were systematically explored. The optimum conditions for fabricating p-CSM was to quench 2% chitosan/2% acetic acid in water/ethanol (70/30) at -20°C for 12h, followed by coagulating in 1% Na2CO3 in water/ethanol (50/50). The p-CSM was an effective adsorbent for Cu2+ and had a Langmuir adsorption capacity of 2.57mmol/g, which is close to the adsorption capacity of natural and electrospun chitosan nanofibers. The p-CSM maintained 90% adsorption efficiency for Cu2+ even after six cycles.