Plant polysaccharides in formulation coating

Plant polysaccharides are biopolymers composed of sugar units maintained together by glycosidic bonds. These polymers are abundant in nature, biocompatible and biodegradable, relatively easy to modify and optimize, nontoxic, and some of them display specific therapeutic activity. The most common plant polysaccharides are starch, cellulose, and pectin. Due to their properties, these polysaccharides have been extensively studied and employed in a broad range of applications in different fields, from food industry, pharmaceutics, or tissue engineering. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the conception of novel and high-performance formulations to address the various demands and unmet questions in these fields, particularly in the pharmaceutical area. The application of plant polysaccharides in formulation coating has been revealed to be a promising strategy to enhance the properties of functional materials or to tailor them. This approach has created novel tools for progress in practical applications, such as food development and food packaging, controlled and tuned drug delivery, wound healing, bone- and stem cell-based tissue engineering. The new knowledge and understanding provided is expected to motivate the translation of plant polysaccharides-coated formulations to novel commercial and clinically implementable pharmaceutical products.