Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 25, Issue 11, 2019

Background: In recent decades, there has been an increased interest in the utilization of polysaccharides showing biological activity for various novel applications owing to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-toxicity, and some specific therapeutic activities. Increasing studies have started in the past few years to develop algal polysaccharides-based biomaterials for various applications. Methods: Saccharide mappin Read More

Background: Pyropia (Porphyra), commonly known as nori or laver, is an important food source in many parts of the world. Edible dried Pyropia contains numerous nutrients and biofunctional components, including proteins, vitamins, eicosapentaenoic acid, minerals, carotenoids, mycosporine-like amino acids, and carbohydrate, and one of the compounds which we are interested in is porphyran, a sulfated polysac Read More

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 n Read More

Background: Recently, researchers have given more and more consideration to natural polysaccharides thanks to their huge properties such as stability, biodegradability and biocompatibility for food and therapeutics applications. Methods: a number of enzymatic and chemical processes were performed to generate bioactive molecules, such as low molecular weight fractions and oligosaccharides derivatives from algal po Read More

Background: Utilization of macroalgae has gained much attention in the field of pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, food and bioenergy. Macroalgae has been widely consumed in Asian countries as food from ancient days and proved that it has potential bioactive compounds which are responsible for its nutritional properties. Macroalgae consists of a diverse range of bioactive compounds including proteins, lipids, pigme Read More

Background: Algal polysaccharide and oligosaccharide derivatives have been shown to possess a variety of therapeutic potentials and drug delivery applications. Algal polysaccharides contain sulfated sugar monomers derived from seaweed including brown, red, and green microalgae. Here, in this review, the recent progress of algal polysaccharides’ therapeutic applications as anticancer agents, as well as underlying cellular an Read More

Background: Chronic skin wounds and pressure ulcers represent major health care problems in diabetic individuals, as well as patients who suffered a spinal cord injury. Current treatment methods are only partially effective and such wounds exhibit a high recurrence rate. Open wounds are at high risk of invasive wound infections, which can lead to amputation and further disability. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to dev Read More

Background: Solid free forming (SFF) technique also called additive manufacturing process is immensely popular for biofabrication owing to its high accuracy, precision and reproducibility. Method: SFF techniques like stereolithography, selective laser sintering, fused deposition modeling, extrusion printing, and inkjet printing create three dimension (3D) structures by layer by layer processing of the material. To achieve des Read More

Background: Imitating nature in the design of bio-inspired drug delivery systems resulted in several success stories. However, the practical application of biomimicry is still largely unrealized owing to the fact that we tend to copy the shape more often than the whole biology. Interesting chemistry of polysaccharides provides endless possibilities for drug complex formation and creation of delivery systems with diverse mo Read More

Marine plants, animals and microorganisms display steady growth in the ocean and are abundant carbohydrate resources. Specifically, natural polysaccharides obtained from brown algae have been drawing increasing attention owing to their great potential in pharmaceutical applications. This review describes the structural and biological features of brown algal polysaccharides, including alginates, fucoidans, and laminarin Read More

Nanotechnology refers to the control, manipulation, study and manufacture of structures and devices at the nanometer size range. The small size, customized surface, improved solubility and multi-functionality of nanoparticles will continue to create new biomedical applications, as nanoparticles allow to dominate stability, solubility and bioavailability, as well controlled release of drugs. The type of a nanoparticle, an Read More

Background: Over the past two decades, there have been substantial progress and a growing body of research on using natural polymeric biomaterials in emerging biomedical applications. Among different natural biopolymers, polysaccharides have gained considerable attraction among biomedical scientists and surgeons due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial propertie Read More