Pectins as Drug Controlled Delivery Systems

The oral administration route is most common, especially for chronic diseases that require constant medication. Through this route, the drug has to go through the entire digestive tract where it is exposed to different physiological conditions such as pH and enzymatic activity of organs such as the stomach, small intestine, and colon [64]. 

The advantages of the pol3miers of biological origin is that they can be obtained from renewable sources, they are the most abundant pol5uners on earth, and they are also considered non-toxic and biocompatible [84]. Although they have diverse applications and pectins have been used in carriers drug systems, they still are not considered standard excipients and further research is needed [37, 38, 56,108]. 

The use of biopol5nners as pectins in the formulation for the manufacture of carriers, facilitates the modulation of physicochemical properties of nano- and microparticles, such as the surface charge or the adhesiveness [11]. This leads researchers to choose polysaccharides as polymer to support their systems. 

The composite materials are made by combining two or more polymers, both natural and synthetic, and sometimes these are combined with biological factors to function as intelligent materials. These materials are very promising because they offer interesting new properties when combined. A wide range of combinations are possible with these mixtures, and this allows to adjust the physical and chemical properties that are sought in innovation of a new material [74]. 

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