What is a polycationic polymer?
Polybiguanides are polycationic polymers with quaternary amine based biguanide repeating units that are separated by hydrocarbon chains of the same or varying lengths (Simoncic and Tomsic, 2010).
Is Chitosan natural or synthetic?
natural
Chitosan, the unique cationic groups-containing polysaccharide is a natural, renewable, nontoxic and biodegradable source being considered as ‘ecologically-friendly’ product.
What are polyelectrolytes used for?
Polyelectrolytes – the flocculation agents Polyelectrolytes are chemical flocculants used in water treatment; they act mainly in the coagulation-flocculation stage and in the conditioning/thickening of the sludge line.
Is polyelectrolyte a chemical?
A polyelectrolyte is a polymer of electrolytes with several repeating chain units. Polyelectrolytes have properties of both electrolytes and polymers, and have a high molecular weight.
What does chitosan do to the body?
Chitosan is a fibrous substance that might reduce how much fat and cholesterol the body absorbs from foods. It also helps blood clot when applied to wounds.
Is chitosan good for your kidneys?
Chitosan has also been proposed as a weight loss treatment on the same principle. However, despite some mildly positive results, the current balance of evidence suggests chitosan does not in fact significantly aid weight loss. Weak evidence hints that chitosan may be helpful in kidney failure.
What is the difference between anionic and cationic polyelectrolytes?
The key difference between cationic and anionic polyelectrolyte is that cationic polyelectrolytes can dissociate in aqueous solutions to form positively charged polymeric species, whereas anionic polyelectrolytes can dissociate in aqueous solutions to give negatively charged polymeric species.
What does polyelectrolyte mean?
Polyelectrolytes are ionizable polymers that change their polymeric conformations upon their environmental changes. They are of two types: strong and weak polyelectrolytes. Strong polyelectrolytes are charged over a wide pH range.
How much chitosan should I take daily?
Dosing. Chitosan has been administered at wide-ranging doses in clinical studies. In studies evaluating weight loss, 2.4 g/day is commonly used. Studies evaluating glucose control in prediabetic patients used 1,500 mg/day.
Does chitosan help lose weight?
Analyses involving all trials indicated that chitosan preparations result in a small but statistically significant greater reduction in body weight (weighted mean difference -1.7 kg; 95% confidence interval -2.1, -1.3 kg, P < 0.00001) compared with placebo.
What are polycations in biology?
Polycations are macromolecules, which possess multiple cationic sites in their molecular structure at physiological pH. Polycations such as protamine sulfate induce rapid foot process effacement and proteinuria in animals and also cause podocytes to flux calcium.
What are the polycations used in layer-by-layer films?
Polycationic Polymer Polycations used in layer-by-layer (LbL) films include poly (allylamine), poly (l-lysine), poly (ethyleneimine), poly (dimethyldiallylammonium chloride), poly (allylamine hydrochloride), and chitosan (or chitosan derivatives). From: Comprehensive Analytical Chemistry, 2013
Can polycations be used to deliver nucleic acids?
Many natural and synthetic polycations have been used for delivery of nucleic acids, with the focus mostly on DNA delivery until the potential of siRNA became apparent.
What are some new cationic block copolymers with polynucleotides?
Some, new cationic block copolymers that are currently being examined with polynucleotides include poly (ethylene oxide)- b -poly (L-lysine) [ 89, 90 ]: and poly (ethylene oxide)- b- poly (1,3-butanediol-1,4-diaminobutylphosphonate) [ 152 ]: and poly (ethylene oxide)- b- poly (L-lysine/L-glycine) [ 152 ]: