ABSTRACT
Polysaccharides possess various favorable characteristics with respect to pharmaceutical applications such as biocompatibility, low toxicity, stability, hydrophilic nature and availability of reactive sites for the chemical modification. Alginate is the most abundant biopolymer obtained from brown seaweeds and major proportion is found in the cell walls and intracellular matrix. The commercial production of alginate from algae involves three steps namely, removal of counter ions, solubilization and precipitation. Alginate undergoes hydrolytic cleavage under acidic conditions and the glycosidic bonds are cleaved. Alginates are used in the form of hydrogels for biomedical applications like, drug delivery, tissue engineering and wound healing. Alginate has application in the preparation of oral dosage forms like tablets and capsules and it has been mainly applied in the diffusion based delivery systems. Alginate and its derivatives were widely explored as delivery systems for small drugs, nucleic acids and therapeutic proteins.
