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Chitosan is a biocompatible, non-toxic and biodegradable biopolymer. Due to the presence of functional groups on its surface, it can be modified and used as a carrier in targeted drug/gene delivery systems. In this study, raloxifene (a selective estrogen receptor ligand) was conjugated to chitosan using different methods. The conjugates were investigated by means of FTIR, TGA and physical properties assessments. Cell viability was evaluated by XTT assay. FTIR and TGA results confirmed that the conjugation between chitosan and raloxifene occurred more efficiently when trimethyl chitosan in the presence of triethylamine and excess amount of linker was used. XTT assay on MCF-7 cell line illustrated that more than 80% of cells were viable after 24h exposure to selected molecules. These findings confirm that the conjugation of raloxifene-chitosan can occur successfully using special synthesis condition and this novel chitosan derivative can be introduced as a potential drug/gene targeting agent., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A novel biosuperabsorbent protein hydrogel was prepared from protein-rich alcoholic-alkali soluble parts of zygomycete Rhizomucor pusillus biomass. The fungal protein content was 46.8%, and the lipid content was 13.1%. Extraction of protein from this microorganism through the method applied prevents protein decomposition, resulting in maximum yield. After alcoholic-alkaline extraction, the proteins from the biomass were acylated using ethylenediaminetetraacetic dianhydride and subsequently treated with glutaraldehyde as a crosslinker for further experiments. Thermal consistency was investigated by means of two different methods: thermal denaturation via differential scanning calorimetry and thermal decomposition study via thermogravimetric analysis. The swelling behaviour of the crosslinked hydrogel was measured in deionised water, 0.9% NaCl solution and synthetic urine, which were 87.6, 43 and 38.6 g/g water after 24 h, respectively. Moreover, the isoelectric point (pI) of the hydrogel was determined as pH = 8 by studying swelling behaviour at different pHs. In addition, the dependencies of the swelling behaviour with regard to the chemical modification, the ionic strength, the degree of crosslinking, as well as water absorbency with or without load were studied.