Chapter 17 - Polysaccharides nanoparticles as oral drug delivery systems

Abstract

This chapter is centered on fundamental and applied aspects of polysaccharides and their capability to form nanoparticles to be used as oral drug delivery systems. Polysaccharides are natural biopolymers diverse in size, charge as well as complex and diverse in chemical structure. They participate in the life process and are used in health, food and cosmetics industries due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability. Polysaccharides have been studied for therapeutic purposes as an alternative to developing less invasive and more personalized treatments that allow the use of lower drugs doses and the reduction of side effects caused by medications when levels are outside of the therapeutic range. Different methods reported for polysaccharide nanoparticles fabrication as well as how they are selected depending on factors such as particle size, stability, active agent and toxicity, among others, are discussed. Examples of nanoparticles based on polysaccharides as carriers and oral delivery system are described, emphasizing their capability to improve drug stability against enzymatic degradation in the gastrointestinal environment due to the protective polymer network. Finally, it is evident that polysaccharides can represent an attractive alternative for the development of specialized formulations in nanomedicine since these macromolecules offer a variety of beneficial and exclusive physicochemical properties. Furthermore, polysaccharides represent an abundant group of biopolymers available from renewable sources. For all these reasons, polysaccharides appear to be remarkable based on materials for oral drug delivery nanoparticle systems.