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Every year, more than thirty thousand tons of Cashew gum (Anacardium occidentale, family: Anacardiaceae) are produced in Brazil; however, only a small amount is used for different applications in foodstuff and in pharmaceutical industries. As a raw material for the production of drug delivery systems, cashew gum is still regarded as an innovative compound worth to be exploited. In this work, cashew gum was extracted from the crude exudate of cashew tree employing four methodologies resulting in a light brown powder in different yields (40.61% to 58.40%). The total ashes (0.34% to 1.05%) and moisture (12.90% to 14.81%) were also dependent on the purification approach. FTIR spectra showed the typical bands of purified cashew gum samples, confirming their suitability for the development of a pharmaceutical product. Cashew gum nanoparticles were produced by nanoprecipitation resulting in particles of low polydispersity (<0.2) and an average size depending on the percentage of the oil. The zeta potential of nanoparticles was found to be below 20 mV, which promotes electrostatic stability. Encapsulation efficiencies were above 99.9%, while loading capacity increased with the increase of the percentage of the oil content of particles. The release of the oil from the nanoparticles followed the Korsmeyer–Peppas kinetics model, while particles did not show any signs of toxicity when tested in three distinct cell lines (LLC-MK2, HepG2, and THP-1). Our study highlights the potential added value of using a protein-, lignans-, and nucleic acids-enriched resin obtained from crude extract as a new raw material for the production of drug delivery systems.

Polyelectrolytic complexation has stood out due to its application in the development of drug delivery systems using biopolymers as raw materials. The formation of complexes between cashew gum and chitosan can be intermediated by cross-links, mediated by the action of the sodium tripolyphosphate crosslinking agent. These polymers have been used in the nanotechnological development of formulations to protect peptide drugs, such as insulin, allowing their oral administration. In this work, we describe the development of polyelectrolytic complexes from cashew gum and chitosan as biopolymers for oral administration of insulin. The obtained complexes showed a mean particle size of 234 nm and polydispersity index of 0.2. The complexes were 234 nm in size, PDI 0.2, zeta potential −4.5 mV and 22% trapping. The obtained complexes demonstrated considerable and promising characteristics for use as oral insulin delivery systems.