Crab vs. Mushroom: A Review of Crustacean and Fungal Chitin in Wound Treatment

Author: mycolabadmin
1/18/2020
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Summary

Chitin, a natural material found in crab shells and mushrooms, can be used to make wound dressings that speed up healing and fight infection. The review compares these two sources, finding that crab-derived chitin has been studied more extensively and has several commercial products available, while mushroom-derived chitin offers advantages like lower cost and easier processing. Both types work by promoting cell growth, stopping bleeding, and killing bacteria, making them promising alternatives to traditional wound dressings for treating difficult-to-heal wounds.

Background

Chitin and chitosan are natural polymers found in arthropod exoskeletons and fungal cell walls that have shown promise in wound treatment applications. These materials exhibit biocompatibility, biodegradability, hemostatic activity, and antimicrobial properties that can accelerate healing and reduce scarring. However, significant differences exist between crustacean-derived and fungal-derived chitin in their structure, properties, processing, and associated polymers.

Objective

This review investigates the key differences between crustacean and fungal chitin sources, their biomedical mechanisms of action in wound healing, and their respective applications in modern wound-dressing technologies. The review examines both historical applications and current advances in chemically modified derivatives and nanocomposite architectures.

Results

Crustacean-derived chitin and chitosan have been extensively researched with numerous commercial applications and human clinical trials showing significant improvements in wound healing. Fungal-derived chitin offers advantages including lower cost, simpler extraction, and native chitin-β-glucan composite architecture. Both sources demonstrate hemostatic properties, promote cell proliferation, attract immune cells, and possess antimicrobial activity through multiple mechanisms.

Conclusion

Both crustacean and fungal chitin show significant potential for wound treatment, with crustacean sources having more established research but fungal sources offering practical and economic advantages. Further research into fungal-derived chitin and its associated polysaccharides could lead to novel low-cost, natural, and mass-producible wound dressing technologies with enhanced therapeutic properties.

Published in:Marine Drugs,
Study Type:Review,
Source: PMID: 31963764