Properties And Applications Of Alginates

Alginates are biodegradable, biocompatible, renewable, and natural polysaccharides in brown marine algae. Properties and Applications of Alginates provides an overview of the state of the art of chemical and material properties of alginates and biomedical and nanotechnology mechanisms underlying alginate biosynthesis. It discusses alginate-based materials’ fundamentals that combine research and technological advances with current limitations. Moreover, novel technologies using alginate composites are introduced, and as well as the latest developments in alginate-based technologies were reviewed. It also examines potential uses of alginates in immobilized biocatalysts, nanoparticle synthesis, wastewater treatment, heavy metal removal, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and biomedicine.

This book provides the whole spectrum of polysaccharides from basic concepts to commercial market applications. Chapters cover various types of sources, classification, properties, characterization, processing, rheology and fabrication of polysaccharide-based materials and their composites and gels. The applications of polysaccharides include in cosmetics, food science, drug delivery, biomedicine, biofuel production, marine, packaging, chromatography and environmental remediation. It also reviews the fabrication of inorganic and carbon nanomaterials from polysaccharides. The book incorporates industrial applications and will fill the gap between the exploration works in the laboratory and viable applications in related ventures.

Alginate is a hydrophilic, biocompatible, biodegradable, and relatively economical polymer generally found in marine brown algae. The modification in the alginate molecule after polymerization has shown strong potential in biomedical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology applications such as wound dressing, drug delivery, dental treatment, in cell culture and tissue engineering. Besides this, alginates have industrial applications too in the paper and food industries as plasticizers and additives. The few books that have been published on alginates focus more on their biology. This current book focuses on the exploration of alginates and their modification, characterization, derivatives, composites, hydrogels as well as the new and emerging applications.

This book includes seven chapters, each focusing on modern research into properties and applications of alginate. The first chapter elucidates the reader to the structural properties and applications of alginate, and additionally discusses future development targets in various fields. The second chapter gives an overview into fabrication of ALG- and S-ALG-based submicron- and nano-sized gel particles with a focus on protein encapsulation. The third chapter returns to analyzing the unique physical properties of alginate and its current and potential uses. The fourth chapter reviews the development of alginate hydrogel beads by the process of microencapsulation, enabling the preservation of the entrapped material. The fifth chapter reviews new uses of alginate in the probiotic food industry as a carrier for probiotic immobilization, and summarizes the extrusion and spray dry techniques used to implement them. The sixth chapter gives a brief knowledge of the structure-property relationships, film formation, biocompatibility, and toxicity study of alginate and its different biomedical applications. The seventh and final chapter, after reviewing how alginate is discovered, describes the main properties of alginate, discusses the sources and chemical structure of alginate, and its various applications, especially in drug release and tissue engineering.

"Alginates: Biology and Applications" provides an overview of the state of art of alginate material properties, genetics and the molecular mechanisms underlying alginate biosynthesis as well as applications of tailor-made alginates in medicine, food and biotechnology. Topics treated are: material properties of alginates, alginate production: precursor biosynthesis, polymerization and secretion, bacterial system for alginate uptake and degradation, enzymatic alginate modification, alginate gene regulation, role of alginate in bacterial biofilms, microbial production of alginates: physiology and process aspects, alginate-based blends and nano/microbeads, applications of alginates in food, alginate and its comonomer mannuronic acid: medical relevance as drugs.

Explores the latest research on the use of alginate as a biopolymer in various biomedical applications and therapeutics. The uses of alginates and modified alginates discussed include tissue regeneration, encapsulation and delivery of drugs, nucleic acid materials, proteins and peptides, genes, herbal therapeutic agents, nutraceuticals, and more

Alginates in Drug Delivery explores the vital precepts, basic and fundamental aspects of alginates in pharmaceutical sciences, biopharmacology, and in the biotechnology industry. The use of natural polymers in healthcare applications over synthetic polymers is becoming more prevalent due to natural polymers’ biocompatibility, biodegradability, economic extraction and ready availability. To fully utilize and harness the potential of alginates, this book presents a thorough understanding of the synthesis, purification, and characterization of alginates and their derivative. This book collects, in a single volume, all relevant information on alginates in health care, including recent advances in the field. This is a highly useful resource for pharmaceutical scientists, health care professionals and regulatory scientists actively involved in the pharmaceutical product and process development of natural polymer containing drug delivery, as well as postgraduate students and postdoctoral research fellows in pharmaceutical sciences. Provides a single source on the complete alginate chemistry, collection, chemical modifications, characterization and applications in healthcare fields Includes high quality illustrations, along with practical examples and research case studies Contains contributions by global leaders and experts from academia, industry and regulatory agencies who are pioneers in the application of natural polysaccharides in diverse pharmaceutical fields