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Locust (Carob) bean gum (LBG) is a natural nonstarch galactomannan, nonionic branched heterogeneous seed gum utilized in various fields due to its flexible integral properties. Over the years, use of LBG and its hydrogel-derived formulations has gained popularity in food, pharmaceutical, biomedical, cosmetic, and other fields. Due to its flexible physicochemical properties, its viscoelastic, swellability, and release-retarding abilities have been improved by grafting or synergy with other compatible polymers without altering its biodegradable, biocompatible, nontoxic, or nonmutagenic characteristics. LBG has been used as a carrier in various drug delivery systems. Current trends in innovative techniques have evolved novel versions of LBG through various chemical modifications processes. LBG, in combination with other polymers and grafted forms, have been extensively used in fabrication of hydrogel-derived formulations with specific functions. Hydrogel derived from LBG responds to various stimuli that are required in the delivery of various therapeutic actives based on requirement of applications. This chapter is compiled on LBG and its derived hydrogels using reported scientific literature in depth to focus on LBG-derived hydrogel formulations and evaluations following its sources, properties, extraction, and processing of LBG powder and versatile applications in various fields to extend its utility in the future.

The goal of study was to formulate and characterize pullulan based oral thin film (OTF) of zolmitriptan by solvent casting method. Based on preliminary trials, glass, PEG 400 and sucralose were selected as casting surface, water-miscible plasticizer and sweetener for OTF, respectively. A 32 factorial design was used to study the effect of amount of PEG 400 (X1) and sucralose (X2) as independent variables on tensile strength (Y1), elasticity (Y2), % in-vitro drug release in phosphate buffer of pH 6.8 at 5min (Q5min, Y3) and overall taste of OTF (Y4) as responses. OTF of batch F4 (PEG 400, 200mg; sucralose, 12mg) was identified as an optimized batch showing in-vitro, in-vivo disintegration time 20.70 and 21.58s, respectively; 95.53% Q5min; satisfactory thickness, strength, % elongation, ease of handling, smooth mouthfeel, excellent overall taste; even distribution of all ingredients in pullulan OTF (SEM study); and stable film at specified conditions concluding that pullulan, PEG 400 and sucralose are used in combination to make palatable, stable OTF of zolmitriptan.

Biodegradable polymer such as hyaluronic acid (HA), also named as hyaluronan, has extensively created a broad range of platform for biomedical and drug delivery applications, since HA provides an intrinsic biological activity, when used as biomaterial. HA is a naturally occurring nontoxic, biocompatible, biodegradable, and nonimmunogenic linear polysaccharide composed of unbranched nonsulfated glycosaminoglycan and has widely found as a major element in extracellular matrix of vertebrate organism in body fluids and tissues such as synovial fluid, the vitreous humor of the eye, dermis of the skin and hyaline cartilage and as well as also found in some bacteria. HA as an ideal biomaterial, with unique physicochemical properties and chemical modifications have aimed in enhancing, modulating, or controlling the therapeutic action of target molecule and have encouraged researchers in further exploring its utilization in biomedical (wound healing and as tumor markers for different cancer types) and drug delivery applications through internalization of HA by cells through cluster determinant 44 (CD44) receptors during its enzymatic degradation, enabling intracellular delivery of drugs via conjugation to HA or entrapment in HA particles and in targeting anticancer drugs to tumor cells overexpressing CD44 receptors. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of the existing recent literature on the use of HA and its derivatives for further utilization in biomedical and drug delivery applications.

The study shows the development and optimization of locust bean gum (LBG)–alginate mucoadhesive macromolecules containing aceclofenac through ionotropic-gelation using 3 2 factorial design. The effect of amount of LBG and sodium alginate on drug entrapment efficiency (%DEE), % mucoadhesion at 8 h ( M 8 ) and % in vitro drug release at 10 h (% Q 10 h ) were optimized. The percentage yield, average size and DEE of macromolecules were found within the range of 93.19 to 96.65%, 1.328 ± 0.11 to 1.428 ± 0.13 μm, and 56.37 to 68.54%, respectively. The macromolecules were also characterized by SEM, FTIR and DSC. The in vitro drug release from these macromolecules (84.95 ± 2.02 to 95.33 ± 1.56% at 10 h) exhibited sustained release (first-order) pattern with super case-II transport mechanism. The swelling and mucoadhesivity of these macromolecules were affected by pH of the medium. The design established the role of derived polynomial equations and plots in predicting the values of dependent variables for the preparation and optimization.

Polysaccharides have been gaining interesting and valuable applications in the food and pharmaceutical fields. As they are derived from the natural source, they are easily available, non-toxic, cheap, biodegradable and biocompatible. Carrageenan is one among them, which fulfills the criteria of polysaccharide; it is a natural carbohydrate (polysaccharide) obtained from edible red seaweeds. The name Carrageenan is derived from the Chondrus crispus species of seaweed (Rhodophyceace) known as Carrageen Moss or Irish Moss, and Carraigin. A demand based on its application has been widely increasing in food and pharmaceutical sectors. Carrageenan has gained wide applications in experimental medicine, pharmaceutical formulations, cosmetics, and food industries. Through keen references of the reported literature on carrageenan, in this review, we have described about carrageenan, its properties, extraction and refining, and its food and pharmaceutical applications.

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, non-carcinogenic, 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 fibers. This review article presents an historical outline, overview of properties, production, derivatives of pullulan, its versatile applicability and recent advances of pullulan.

Biopolymers or natural polymers are an attractive class of biodegradable polymers since they are derived from natural sources, easily available, relatively cheap and can be modified by suitable reagent. Locust bean gum is one of them that have a wide potentiality in drug formulations due to its extensive application as food additive and its recognized lack of toxicity. It can be tailored to suit its demands of applicants in both the pharmaceutical and biomedical areas. Locust bean gum has a wide application either in the field of novel drug delivery system as rate controlling excipients or in tissue engineering as scaffold formation. Through keen references of reported literature on locust bean gum, in this review, we have described critical aspects of locust bean gum, its manufacturing process, physicochemical properties and applications in various drug delivery systems.

Polysaccharides have been finding, in the last decades, very interesting and useful applications in the biomedical and, specifically, in the biopharmaceutical field. Galactomannans are a group of storage polysaccharides from various plant seeds that reserve energy for germination in the endosperm. There are four major sources of seed galactomannans: locust bean (Ceratonia siliqua), guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba), tara (Caesalpinia spinosa Kuntze), and fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.). Through keen references of reported literature on galactomannans, in this review, we have described occurrence of various galactomannans, its physicochemical properties, characterization, applications, and overview of some major galactomannans.