ABSTRACT
Alginates (ALG) are naturally occurring anionic unbranched polysaccharide processed from seaweeds and bacterial strains. ALG is most widely used in biomedical, pharmaceutical, food industries, tissue engineering, and cosmetic application due to its biocompatibility, low toxicity, and inexpensive in availability. ALGs are widely used in drug delivery as a matrix system for entrapment of drug/cell due to several unique properties. ALGs are chemically modified to alter solubility and other properties to increase its applications in biomedical, pharmaceutical, and tissue engineering. The solubility of ALGs depends on pH, the ionic strength of the medium, the presence of cations in the medium as divalent cations in medium leads to gelation of ALGs. Divalent cations induce cross-linking of sodium ALG in aqueous solution where sol-to-gel transformation occurs. ALGs are having an extensive and important role in pharmaceutics in various applications such as a tablet-binding agent, alginic acid as disintegrant, stabilizer, gelling, thickening agents and can play a key role in controlled release drug formulations.
