Polymeric plant-derived excipients in drug delivery

Drug dosage forms contain many components in addition to the active pharmaceutical ingredient(s) to assist in the manufacturing process as well as to optimise drug delivery. Due to advances in drug delivery technology, excipients are currently included in novel dosage forms to fulfil specific functions and in some cases they directly or indirectly influence the extent and/or rate of drug release and absorption. Since plant polysaccharides comply with many requirements expected of pharmaceutical excipients such as non-toxicity, stability, availability and renewability they are extensively investigated for use in the development of solid oral dosage forms. Furthermore, polysaccharides with varying physicochemical properties can be extracted from plants at relatively low cost and can be chemically modified to suit specific needs. As an example, many polysaccharide-rich plant materials are successfully used as matrix formers in modified release dosage forms. Some natural polysaccharides have even shown environmental-responsive gelation characteristics with the potential to control drug release according to specific therapeutic needs. This review discusses some of the most important plant-derived polymeric compounds that are used or investigated as excipients in drug delivery systems.