Background:
With the advancement in the field of medical science, the idea of sustained release of the
therapeutic agents in the patient’s body has remained a major thrust for developing advanced drug delivery systems
(DDSs). The critical requirement for fabricating these DDSs is to facilitate the delivery of their cargos in a
spatio-temporal and pharmacokinetically-controlled manner. Albeit the synthetic polymer-based DDSs normally
address the above-mentioned conditions, their potential cytotoxicity and high cost have ultimately constrained
their success. Consequently, the utilization of natural polymers for the fabrication of tunable DDSs owing to their
biocompatible, biodegradable, and non-toxic nature can be regarded as a significant stride in the field of drug
delivery. Marine environment serves as an untapped resource of varied range of materials such as polysaccharides,
which can easily be utilized for developing various DDSs.
Methods:
Carrageenans are the sulfated polysaccharides that are extracted from the cell wall of red seaweeds.
They exhibit an assimilation of various biological activities such as anti-thrombotic, anti-viral, anticancer, and
immunomodulatory properties. The main aim of the presented review is threefold. The first one is to describe the
unique physicochemical properties and structural composition of different types of carrageenans. The second is to
illustrate the preparation methods of the different carrageenan-based macro- and micro-dimensional DDSs like
hydrogels, microparticles, and microspheres respectively. Fabrication techniques of some advanced DDSs such as
floating hydrogels, aerogels, and 3-D printed hydrogels have also been discussed in this review. Next, considerable
attention has been paid to list down the recent applications of carrageenan-based polymeric architectures in
the field of drug delivery.
Results:
Presence of structural variations among the different carrageenan types helps in regulating their temperature
and ion-dependent sol-to-gel transition behavior. The constraint of low mechanical strength of reversible gels
can be easily eradicated using chemical crosslinking techniques. Carrageenan based-microdimesional DDSs (e.g.
microspheres, microparticles) can be utilized for easy and controlled drug administration. Moreover, carrageenans
can be fabricated as 3-D printed hydrogels, floating hydrogels, and aerogels for controlled drug delivery applications.
Conclusion:
In order to address the problems associated with many of the available DDSs, carrageenans are
establishing their worth recently as potential drug carriers owing to their varied range of properties. Different
architectures of carrageenans are currently being explored as advanced DDSs. In the near future, translation of
carrageenan-based advanced DDSs in the clinical applications seems inevitable.
Streptococcus mutans plays an important role in the development of dental caries in humans by synthesizing adhesive insoluble glucans from sucrose by mutansucrase activity. To explore the anti-cariogenic characteristics of rubusoside (Ru), a natural sweetener component in Rubus suavissimus S. Lee (Rosaceae), we investigated the inhibitory effect of Ru against the activity of mutansucrase and the growth of Streptococcus mutans. Ru (50 mM) showed 97% inhibitory activity against 0.1 U/mL mutansucrase of S. mutans with 500 mM sucrose. It showed competitive inhibition with a K i value of 1.1 ± 0.2 mM and IC 50 of 2.3 mM. Its inhibition activity was due to hydrophobic and hydrogen bonding interactions based on molecular docking analysis. Ru inhibited the growth of S. mutans as a bacteriostatic agent, with MIC and MBC values of 6 mM and 8 mM, respectively. In addition, Ru showed synergistic anti-bacterial activity when it was combined with curcumin. Therefore, Ru is a natural anti-cariogenic agent with antimutansucrase activity and antimicrobial activity against S. mutans.
In the present study, we report the development of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and chitosan oligosaccharide (COS)-based novel blend films. The concentration of COS was varied between 2.5–10.0 wt% within the films. The inclusion of COS added a brown hue to the films. FTIR spectroscopy revealed that the extent of intermolecular hydrogen bonding was most prominent in the film that contained 5.0 wt% of COS. The diffractograms showed that COS altered the degree of crystallinity of the films in a composition-dependent manner. As evident from the thermal analysis, COS content profoundly impacted the evaporation of water molecules from the composite films. Stress relaxation studies demonstrated that the blend films exhibited more mechanical stability as compared to the control film. The impedance profiles indicated the capacitive-dominant behavior of the prepared films. Ciprofloxacin HCl-loaded films showed excellent antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus. The prepared films were observed to be biocompatible. Hence, the prepared PVA/COS-based blend films may be explored for drug delivery applications.
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