Review
Prospective of guar gum and its derivatives as controlled drug delivery systems

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Abstract

Guar gum is a non-ionic polysaccharide that is found abundantly in nature and has many properties desirable for drug delivery applications. However, due to its high swelling characteristics in aqueous solution, the use of guar gum as delivery carriers is limited. Guar gum can be modified by derivatization, grafting and network formation to improve its property profile for a wide spectrum of biomedical applications. This review article is aimed at focusing the recent efforts and developments on guar gum and its derivatives as colon-specific, antihypertensive, protein and transdermal drug delivery systems. Based on the literatures reviewed, it is concluded that guar gum and its derivatives in the various forms such as coatings, matrix tablets, hydrogels and nano/microparticles can be exploited as potential carriers for targeted drug delivery.

Introduction

Polysaccharides are the polymers of monosaccharides. In nature, polysaccharides have various resources from algal origin (e.g. alginate), plant origin (e.g. pectin and guar gum), microbial origin (e.g. dextran and xanthan gum), and animal origin (chitosan and chondroitin) [1]. Polysaccharides have a large number of reactive groups, a wide range of molecular weight, varying chemical composition, which contribute to their diversity in structure and in property. Due to the presence of various derivable groups on molecular chains, polysaccharides can be easily modified chemically and biochemically, resulting in many kinds of polysaccharide derivatives [2], [3]. As natural biomaterials, polysaccharides are highly stable, safe, non-toxic, hydrophilic and biodegradable. In addition, polysaccharides have abundant resources in nature and low cost in their processing. Particularly, most of natural polysaccharides have hydrophilic groups such as hydroxyl, carboxyl and amino groups, which could form non-covalent bonds with biological tissues (mainly epithelia and mucous membranes), forming bioadhesion [4]. For the application of naturally occurring polysaccharides for drug carriers, issues of safety, toxicity and availability are greatly simplified. In recent years, a large number of studies have been conducted on polysaccharides and their derivatives for their potential application as drug delivery systems [5], [6], [7].

In recent years, considerable attention has been focused on hydrophilic polysaccharides in the design of oral controlled drug delivery systems because of their flexibility to obtain a desirable drug release profile, cost-effectiveness and broad regulatory acceptance. Among the hydrophilic polysaccharides, guar gum (GG) is generally considered as a potential candidate for colon-specific drug delivery application due to its drug release retarding property and susceptibility to microbial degradation in the large intestine [8], [9]. GG is also a prospective hydrophilic matrix carrier for oral controlled delivery of drugs with varying solubility and therefore many reports have been published on the use of GG for oral delivery of drugs [10].

GG is a water soluble polysaccharide derived from the seeds of Cyamopsis tetragonolobus, family Leguminosae. It consists of linear chains of (1  4)-β-d-mannopyranosyl units with α-d-galactopyranosyl units attached by (1  6) linkages (Fig. 1) [11]. GG contains about 80% galactomannan, 12% water, 5% protein, 2% acidic insoluble ash, 0.7% ash and 0.7% fat. In pharmaceutical formulations, GG is used as a binder, disintegrant, suspending agent, thickening agent and stabilizing agent. GG is soluble in cold water, hydrating quickly to produce viscous pseudo plastic solutions that although shear-thinning generally have greater low-shear viscosity than other hydrocolloids [12], [13]. This gelling property retards release of the drug from the dosage form, and it is susceptible to degradation in the colonic environment [14], [15], [16]. Over the past few years, many review articles have been published on natural based polysaccharides as controlled drug delivery carriers [17], [18]. However, there is no specific review reported on GG-based materials for drug delivery applications till date. In this paper, the recent developments on GG and its derivatives as drug delivery carriers are discussed in detail. Special emphasis has been given to the application of these materials as colon specific, antihypertensive, protein and transdermal drug delivery systems. Moreover, different methods of preparation, properties and applications of the chemically modified GG designed for the association and delivery of drugs were also discussed.

Section snippets

Colon-specific drug delivery

Site-specific drug delivery to the colon has attracted considerable attention for the past few years in order to develop drug delivery systems that are able to release drugs specifically in the colon in a predictable and reproducible manner. The site specific drug delivery to colon is important for the treatment of diseases associated with the colon, reducing the side effects of the drug and reducing the administered dose. GG could potentially be used as a biodegradable material for the

Conclusions

GG and its derivatives are stable, safe and biodegradable. Due to these favorable properties, they are widely considered as potential target-specific drug delivery carriers. GG can be used as a colon-specific drug carrier in the form of matrix and compression-coated tablets as well as microspheres due to its viscous colloidal dispersions in aqueous solution. To reduce the enormous swelling properties of GG that limits its application as drug delivery carriers; various approaches of chemical

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