Abstract Chitosan, a biocompatible positively charged polysaccharide from natural origin,is regarded as a promising compound in medical and pharmaceutical technology. However, despitehigh application potential of chitosan, its susceptibility to the presence of ions, pH – dependent solubility, insufficient rheological properties or poor mechanical characteristics, can be a serious limitation in the technology of modified release drug carriers. To date, different strategies have been applied to overcome too rapid disintegration of chitosan carriers and to improve theirphysical properties. Among modifications of chitosan backbone, particular attention has been paid toward polyelectrolyte complexes spontaneously formed by mixing chitosan with oppositely charged polymers from both natural or synthetic origin under mild conditions. The aim of this review is to highlight the most recent advances and current applications of chitosan – based polyelectrolyte complexes as potential drug delivery systems and medical devices for local (skin and mucosal) application. Regarding the fact that pharmaceutical processing appears particularly important in proper polyelectrolyte complexes formation, this review covers the influence of selected technological factors on final polyelectrolyte complexes characteristics. The influence of a type of an applied polyanion on the polyelectrolyte complexes properties including swelling capacity, bio – and mucoadhesiveness or biological activity was also briefly described.

中文翻译：

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开发基于壳聚糖的聚电解质复合物作为粘膜和皮肤给药平台的挑战

摘要 壳聚糖是一种天然来源的具有生物相容性的带正电荷的多糖，被认为是一种很有前途的医药技术化合物。然而，尽管壳聚糖具有很高的应用潜力，但其对离子存在的敏感性、pH 依赖性溶解度、不足的流变特性或较差的机械特性，可能是缓释药物载体技术的严重限制。迄今为止，已应用不同的策略来克服壳聚糖载体过快崩解并改善其物理性质。在壳聚糖主链的修饰中，特别关注通过在温和条件下将壳聚糖与来自天然或合成来源的带相反电荷的聚合物混合而自发形成的聚电解质复合物。本综述的目的是强调基于壳聚糖的聚电解质复合物作为局部（皮肤和粘膜）应用的潜在药物递送系统和医疗器械的最新进展和当前应用。关于药物加工在适当的聚电解质复合物形成中显得特别重要这一事实，本综述涵盖了所选技术因素对最终聚电解质复合物特性的影响。还简要描述了应用的聚阴离子类型对聚电解质复合物性质的影响，包括溶胀能力、生物和粘膜粘附性或生物活性。