Bacterial exopolysaccharides in drug delivery applications

Human health ailments have catapulted the need for progress in pharmaceutical industry, biomedical sciences and research. Exopolysaccharide produced by bacteria in their late logarithmic and early stationary phase, has proven to be a polymer of versatile applications due to its hygroscopic, swelling and viscous nature. Moreover, the chemical groups present in bacterial exopolysaccharides allow it to fabricate into three dimensional carrier molecules for administering drugs at specific site of animal models while maintaining a prolonged controlled release. The biocompatibility, non-cytotoxicity along with properties like anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor can make them desirable tools for construction of three-dimensional carrier molecules like hydrogels, aerogels, liposomes, micro and nano particles, scaffolds, films, sponges for delivering active pharmaceutical ingredients of drugs at specific target cells and tissues. They also harbor an ambient environment for proliferation of various cells thus making them excellent biomaterials in regenerative medicine. Moreover, researchers are chemically modifying the functional groups present in them to form new derivatives of biopolymers with improved material properties thus paving a new direction in drug delivery and pharmaceutical science. Innovative drug delivery technologies based on bacterial exopolysaccharide which have exhibited fruitful results in vitro and in vivo animal models, can be further extended in treating serious human health ailments. The slow, controlled release of drug molecules from the polymeric carrier can provide faster treatment to patients with increased bioavailability at affected tissues and simultaneously reduce frequency of administration and systemic toxicity of drugs. [Display omitted]