The Protective Role of Chitosan Nanoparticles Against Hepatic Inflammation Induced in Rats

Abstract

Irradiation induced depolymerization of chitosan solution through scission in - (1-4)-glycoside bond resulted in decreasing the chain length and reduction in molecular weight. By increasing the irradiation dose, the solubility of chitosan increases and the viscosity shows a decreasing trend. NOC was successfully prepared by -irradiation at 30 kGy under appropriate physical formulations of chitosan and irradiation doses, which is confirmed by the characterization of chitosan with measuring the relative viscosity and scavenging activity. NOC is considered an enhanced form of the normal chitosan where it gathers the effective characteristics of chitosan such as antioxidants effect, in which the active groups OH and C=O, which are sites for interaction and modification increased, besides the unique properties of the nanoparticles such as small size. Pretreatment of rats with NOC followed by exposure to -irradiation, CCl4 intoxication, or both treatments ameliorated the induced hepatoxicity.