Desenvolvimento e avaliação de membranas de quitosana/gelatina/heparina.

Abstract

Heparin is a polyanionic polysaccharide that occurs naturally and belongs to the group of the glycosaminoglycan. It is one of the most powerful anticoagulants of which mankind has knowledge, taking part in the treatment of several diseases and hematological alterations. One of the disadvantages of heparin, though, is the fact that it is severely degraded when taken orally and therefore it is better introduced via a route other than the mouth. A possible solution to this problem involves a chitosan/gelatine/heparin blend, provided that both the chitosan and the gelatine manage to deliver the heparin all the way to the blood flow, not to mention that the gelatine plays an important role in the process of homogenizing the chitosan/heparin mixture - with no precipitation. The project's main goal was to develop and study chitosan/gelatine/heparin membranes. The membranes with 20mg and 40mg of heparin were prepared by means of evaporation of the solvent and they were divided in two groups: The first one was neutralized by the ammonium hydroxide and the second one, by the sodium hydroxide. Each one of them was submitted to the following characterization techniques: XRD, FTIR, SEM, DES, Wetting Test, swelling test and biodegradation tests. In light of the obtained results, it was concluded that the relation between chitosan, heparin and gelatin was effective. However, a significant decrease of the heparin in the second group was noticed, and that was possibly due to the transport of medicine while the membranes were being cleaned with distilled water.