Production of 3 dimensional chitosan from body segments of diplopoda and its biotechnological applications

Commercially available chitins and the chitin isolates (from mushrooms, insect cuticles, shells of shrimp, crab and crayfish) reported in the literature are in forms of powder, flake or granule. Three-dimensional chitins have been only known from the sponges but still three-dimensional chitosan has not been reported yet. In this study, we produced three-dimensional chitin and chitosan rings from the body segments of diplopod Julus terrestris. Obtained chitin and chitosan rings were characterized by FTIR, SEM, TGA, XRD, Dilute solution viscometry and Elemental Analysis and compared with commercial chitin and chitosan. The interactions chitosan with plasmid DNA was studied at varying concentrations (0.04, 0.4 and 4mg/mL). Antitumor activity tests were conducted (L929 and HeLa) and low cytotoxicity and high antiproliferative activity was observed. Antimicrobial activities of J. terrestris chitosan were investigated on twelve organisms and highest growth inhibition was recorded for common human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus.