Extraction and characterization of marine chitosan from sea shrimp shell and its biomedical applications

Biopolymer "Marine Chitosan" (MC) was extracted from the chitin of sea shrimp shells using standard protocol and was investigated for its morphological, elemental and biomedical applications. The extracted chitosan powder was first characterised by analytical techniques viz. XRD, FTIR, FESEM and UV-Vis/NIR spectroscopy. Then, the material was tested for its in vitro anti-oxidant assay using KMnO4 method with the highest mean inhibition of 96.94% at 1 mg/mL. MC showed a semi-crystalline phase investigated through XRD analysis and the FESEM presented non-spherical morphology with a mean particle size of 293 nm. The FTIR spectrum showed functional groups with O-H, N-H and C-O stretching. The anti-cancer activity determined on MCF-7 cell lines with an IC50 of approximately 71.45 μg and the optical property of MC-TiO2 composite with 19.16% higher absorbance than pure TiO2 at wavelength 808 nm could be applicable for photodynamic and photothermal therapy.