title: Natural gums and modified natural gums as sustained-release carriers.
abstract: Although natural gums and their derivatives are used widely in pharmaceutical dosage forms, their use as biodegradable polymeric materials to deliver bioactive agents has been hampered by the synthetic materials. These natural polysaccharides do hold advantages over the synthetic polymers, generally because they are nontoxic, less expensive, and freely available. Natural gums can also be modified to have tailor-made materials for drug delivery systems and thus can compete with the synthetic biodegradable excipients available in the market. In this review, recent developments in the area of natural gums and their derivatives as carriers in the sustained release of drugs are explored.
authors.affiliation: University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Bhardwaj
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kanwar
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lal
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D000464:Alginates / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D002351:Carrageenan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D005936:Glucans / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006170:Gum Arabic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D006801:Humans; D010368:Pectins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D004337:Drug Carriers; D005936:Glucans; D011134:Polysaccharides; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; C045938:scleroglucan; D010368:Pectins; D006170:Gum Arabic; D002351:Carrageenan; C002563:xanthan gum