Abstract

Biodegradable and nontoxic natural biopolymers are commonly being studied as a potential carrier material for novel drug delivery system due to its bio-compatible nature. Hydrogels are hydrophilic cross-linked polymer networks. They are able to imbibe large amounts of water or biological fluids. Guar gum (GG) is a galactomannan. It is obtained from plant Cyamopsis Tetragonolobus Linn. It has wide applications in pharmaceutical formulations, cosmetic, food, textile, paper, explosive, toiletries industries, etc. However, due to uncontrollable rate of viscosity, uncontrollable rate of hydration, instability of its solution for a long time and susceptibility to microbial contamination restricts the use of GG in pharmaceutical industries. To overcome these drawbacks, GG should be modified to hydrogel. GG based hydrogels are widely used in pharmaceutical application due to its changes in physic-chemical properties. GG and its derivatives are used as binders, disintegrate in the formulation of tablets. They are also used as control-released agents in novel drug delivery. The present review has been aimed to give an overview of GG based hydrogels for pharmaceutical applications.

Keywords: Guar gum, biodegradable hydrogel, control-release, cross-linked polymer, galactomannan, binder.

Graphical Abstract