Biopolymers technology biocompatibility

Bioencapsulation is an emerging technology applied to bioactive molecules to be protected and released under controlled conditions. It has many potential uses in agriculture, food industry, pharmacy, and biomedicine, actually not fully exploited. The most used matrices to build microcapsules or microspheres are polymers, either synthetic or natural, the last ones, known as biopolymers, being preferred for their biocompatibility and good acceptance in food and cosmetics. 

The development in the last century of a theory of liquid crystalline behaviour and of transfer matrices to understand optical equations, along with the use of computer simulations, has allowed us to understand the theory of these chiral materials. Furthermore, technological advances including electron microscopes have allowed us to unlock the structures of the natural world that create our most vivid materials. We now have the opportunity to capitalise on these in the creation of biocompatible and biomimetic materials using the natural phenomenon of self-assembly observed for abundant and easily processable biopolymers. 

The primary use of cellulose film has been for wrapping purposes. The past years have witnessed a renewed interest in cellulose research and application sparked mostly by technological interests in renewable raw materials and more environmentally-friendly and sustainable recourses. It has been estimated that the yearly biomass production of cellulose is 1.5 tons, making it an inexhaustible source of raw material for environmentally-friendly and biocompatible products [3]. Cellulose derivatives are used for coatings, laminates, optical films, pharmaceuticals, food, and textiles. Numerous new applications of cellulose take advantage of its biocompatibility and chirality for the immobilization of proteins and antibodies and for the separation of enantiometric molecules, as well as the formation of cellulose composite with synthetic polymers and biopolymers. This chapter basically discussed on the medical applications of cellulose. 

Biopolymers are an essential element in improving human health and quality of life. The wide spectrum of physical, mechanical, and chemical properties provided by polymers has increased the extensive research, development, and applications of polymeric biomaterials. The significance of polymers as biomaterials is reflected in the market of medical polymers, estimated to be approximately 1 billion. Many of these polymers were initially developed as plastics, elastomers, and fibers for nonmedical industrial applications. However, they were later developed as biomedical-specific materials. Currently, with rapid growth in modern biology and interdisciplinary collaborative research, polymeric biomaterials are being widely used in pharmaceutical technology with excellent biocompatibility [33]. 

Natural biocompatible and biodegradable macromolecules, especially plant-derived biopolymers, are more accessible, eco-friendly and cost-effective as compared with synthetic polymers [7-11], Thus, starch, dextran, cellulose, pectins, alginates, agar, gums, chitosan, hyaluronic acid, collagen, and gelatin are viable alternatives to synthetic polymers in pharmaceutical technology [12-16]. 

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