Chitosan film enriched with an antioxidant agent, taurine, in fenestration defects Nurdan O ¨ zmeric ¸, 1 Go ¨ nen O ¨ zcan, 1 Cenk M. Haytac ¸, 2 Emine E. Alaaddinog ˘ lu, 1 Mustafa F. Sargon, 3 Sevda S ¸ enel 4 1 Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Gazi, 8.cadde 84.sokak 06510 Emek, Ankara, Turkey 2 Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of C ¸ ukurova, Adana, Turkey 3 Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Hacettepe, Ankara, Turkey 4 Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Hacettepe, Ankara, Turkey Received 15 December 1999; accepted 25 January 2000 Abstract: A natural polysaccharide, chitosan (poly-N- acetyl glucosaminoglycan), which is a nontoxic and bioab- sorbable polymer, has been shown to have hemostatic and antibacterial effects. An amino acid, taurine, is considered to be beneficial for regulating the inflammation process. The purpose of this study was to investigate the synergistic ef- fects of taurine and chitosan in the experimental defects at the vestibular bone of maxillary canine teeth in six dogs. Chitosan films were prepared as delivery system with or without taurine and placed in the randomly chosen defects. Biopsies were performed on the postoperative seventh day and routine histological procedures were performed for light and electron microscopic evaluations. For each group, 30 different microscopic areas were examined and the num- bers of macrophages and neutrophils in these areas were counted. The mean numbers of both macrophages and neu- trophils were found statistically different between the chi- tosan film incorporated with taurine and free chitosan groups (p < 0.0001 p > 0.05). In addition to the increase in cell counts in both groups, the cytological alterations were more obvious in the chitosan film group incorporated with tau- rine. Accordingly, taurine appears to enhance the accelera- tion effect of chitosan on wound healing at early periods. This effect could be considered beneficial in tissue repair in destructive diseases like periodontitis. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 51, 500–503, 2000. Key words: animal; chitosan; periodontium; taurine; wound healing INTRODUCTION Wound healing is a complex process involving dif- ferent biologic and immunologic mechanisms. In vivo and in vitro studies have clearly demonstrated that the presence of both macrophages and neutrophils at the wound site is essential for the normal healing process to occur. 1 Chitosan is a nonacetylated or partially deacety- lated chitin, that is distributed widely in nature as skeletal material of crustaceans and has been pro- posed as a biomaterial because of its biocompatibility. Bioadhesive properties of chitosan make the material a good choice in oral mucosal drug delivery systems. 2–4 The accelerating effects of chitosan on wound healing have been well documented. 5,6 Chitin membrane as a wound dressing used in the treatment of denuded palatal sites in monkeys has been reported to promote collagen production. 7 Chitosan has been applied to periodontal wounds and reported to enhance tissue organization. 8 Besides this, chitosan has been found to have an in vivo stimulatory effect on macrophage mi- gration and nitric oxide production. 9,10 Taurine, which is one of the most abundant amino acids in the body, is known to protect tissues against the deleterious effect of a variety of oxidants. 11–14 Tau- rine with its antioxidant activities is considered to have importance in regulating the inflammation pro- cess. Although several studies have suggested that chito- san affects cellular migration and tissue organization during the wound healing and that it may enhance bone formation at the cellular level, 15 no previous studies have attempted to evaluate the utility of chi- tosan in combination with an antioxidant agent in wound healing. It seemed reasonable to assume that taurine and *Correspondence to: N. O ¨ zmeric ¸; e-mail: nozmeric1@ superonline.com No benefit of any kind will be received either directly or indirectly by the authors © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.