Figure - PMC

Skip to main content

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

View full-text article in PMC

. 2020 Jun 22;22(1):24–56. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.0c00663

Search in PMC
Search in PubMed
View in NLM Catalog
Add to search

This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.

PMC Copyright notice

Potential mechanisms of thiolated chitosan drug carriers reacting with proteins displaying exofacial thiol groups. (a) A disulfide bond exchange reaction between a reactive thiol group at the cell surface and a disulfide bond of the vector takes place. (b) Again a disulfide bond exchange reaction occurs whereby this time a thiol group of the carrier attacks a disulfide bond of the protein. (c) Formation of a disulfide bridge between a thiol group of the vector and an exofacial thiol group of a protein. Metal ions or oxidizing agents can enhance this reaction. Each time a mixed disulfide complex emerges, it is internalized and subsequently reduced within the endosome or cytoplasm, resulting in release of the carrier. Reprinted with permission from ref (163). Copyright 2012 Elsevier.