An Insight To Pullulan: A Biopolymer in Pharmaceutical Approaches

Abstract

Pullulan is a non-ionic polysaccharide obtained from fermentation of black yeast like Aureobasidium pullulans and is currently exploited in food and pharmaceutical industries due to its unique characteristics. Due to its properties like non-toxic, non-immunogenic, noncarcinogenic, non-mutagenic, pullulan is being explored for various biomedical applications viz., gene delivery, targeted drug therapy, tissue engineering, wound healing, and also being used in diagnostic applications like, perfusion, receptor, and lymph node target specific imaging and vascular compartment imaging. The unique linkage of α (1→4) and α (1→6) in pullulan endows this polymer with distinctive physical traits, including adhesive property and the ability to form fibres. This review article presents an overview of properties, production, derivatives of pullulan, and recent advances of pullulan.

Characterization and Safety Evaluation of Exopolysaccharide Produced by Rhodotorula minuta BIOTECH 2178

“…[ The FTIR spectrum of crude EPS (Fig. 2) displayed a broad intense peak at around 3219.19 cm -1 which showed similar type of spectra found in various studies [17], [18]. This band represented the stretching vibration of the hydroxyl groups in the carbohydrate ring.…”

Development of a buccal mucoadhesive film for fast dissolution: mathematical rationale, production and physicochemical characterization

“…The polymers most employed in the development of buccal mucoadhesives, as observed in a patent survey, are amide gums, carboxymethyl cellulose, carrageenan, locust bean gum, pullulan, xanthan and konjac, as well as plasticizers such as glycerol, maltitol, olive and canola oils (among other oils), propylene glycol, sorbitol and xylitol. Among these raw materials, pullulan has been extensively used as a drug delivery carrier due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability (Kumar et al, 2012;Xiao et al, 2012). Pullulan and its derivatives have numerous demonstrated uses in foods, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, biomedical and pharmaceutical industries.…”

“…Following fermentation, the cells are harvested and duly disrupted using either enzymes or physical forces. Pullulan is then extracted using a simple water extraction process (Mishra et al, 2011;Kumar et al, 2012).…”

Hot melt extrusion: An industrially feasible approach for casting orodispersible film

“…Chemically, pullulan is a polysaccharide consisting of maltotriose units and produced from starch by the fungus Aureobasidium pullulans [78]. Pullulan is white to off-white tasteless, odorless, non-toxic, non-carcinogenic powder which forms clear transparent film with considerable mechanical strength and it is biodegradable and impermeable to oxygen [79,80].…”