ABSTRACT:
Chitosan has been proposed for use in biomedical applications because of its biocompatibility and abundance in nature. However, many barriers to the use of chitosan in biomedical applications still exist due to its physical and chemical limitations. Therefore, the biosafety of this chitosan-derived product requires an in-vitro evaluation. The objective of this study is to establish a primary fibroblast culture from human skin tissue and to assess the cyto-compatibility of locally produced chitosan derivatives products. Primary human dermal fibroblasts were isolated by using enzymatic digestion techniques and characterized by immunocytochemical staining. Characterization has been done by using antibodies against heat shock protein 47 (HSP47) and fibroblasts surface protein (FSP) antibody confirmed that the cells were fibroblast. The cytotoxicity of the chitosan derivative products on fibroblast cell culture were compared by measuring cell survival as determined by the tetrazolium salt reduction assay. The results of cytotoxicity testing on fibroblasts using both direct and indirect contact approach showed that oligo chitosan and N-carboxymethyl chitosan (N-CMC) were the most biocompatible biomaterials in this screening process. Therefore, both locally produced chitosan materials can be used as possible materials for biomedical applications.