Applications of Biopolymers for Drugs and Probiotics Delivery

Abstract

Research regarding the use of biopolymers has been of great interest to scientists, the medical community, and the industry especially in recent years. Initially used for food applications, the special properties extended their use to the pharmaceutical and medical industries. The practical applications of natural drug encapsulation materials have emerged as a result of the benefits of the use of biopolymers as edible coatings and films in the food industry. This review highlights the use of polysaccharides in the pharmaceutical industries and as encapsulation materials for controlled drug delivery systems including probiotics, focusing on their development, various applications, and benefits. The paper provides evidence in support of research studying the use of biopolymers in the development of new drug delivery systems, explores the challenges and limitations in integrating polymer-derived materials with product delivery optimization, and examines the host biological/metabolic parameters that can be used in the development of new applications.

Novel Developments on Stimuli-Responsive Probiotic Encapsulates: From Smart Hydrogels to Nanostructured Platforms

“…The fast-growing notion that encapsulates can be composed of active biomaterials should be driven by matching the material's properties with expected responses through the GIT. Particularly, polymers exhibit versatile molecular moieties that have been widely exploited to fabricate chemical and physical delivery platforms with properties that can be finely tuned by adjusting interchain interactions [51]. Chemical polymeric scaffolds are formed by covalent bonds between adjacent chains, while the physical ones are maintained together by charged polyvalent surfactants or ion interactions [24].…”

Biodegradable Thermoplastic Starch/Polycaprolactone Blends with Co-Continuous Morphology Suitable for Local Release of Antibiotics

“…Binary TPS/PCL blends aim for technical applications, namely in the field of packaging [ 30 , 31 , 32 ]. As for biomedical applications, the TPS/PCL particles in solution have been considered as possible microcapsules for drug delivery [ 33 , 34 ], but bulk solid TPS/PCL blends have been mentioned in just two studies: Bou-Francis et al [ 24 ] investigated TPS/PCL together with other biodegradable polymer blends as potential fracture fixation devices (which is suspicious due to the very low modulus of PCL/TPS blends) and Mano et al [ 25 ] studied the thermal properties of TPS, which was blended with various synthetic biodegradable polymers including PCL, and concluded that all starch-based blends might be suitable for some medical applications.…”

Biopolymer‐Based Multilayer Microparticles for Probiotic Delivery to Colon

“…On the other hand, synthetic biopolymers have a low cost and high thermal and mechanical properties that distinguishes them from their natural counterparts. [27] The biopolymeric microencapsulated probiotics are generally divided into two major categories being single-and multi-layer microparticles. Single layer microparticles are generally composed of a semipermeable, spherical, thin, and strong membranous wall that retains the probiotics within the structure.…”

“…On the other hand, synthetic biopolymers have a low cost and high thermal and mechanical properties that distinguishes them from their natural counterparts. [ 27 ]…”