Abstract
Alginates are anionic, hydrophilic polysaccharides that are derived from brown seaweeds and bacteria. The chemical structure contains β-D-mannuronic acid (M) and α-L-guluronic acid (G) and G and M residue segmentation is responsible for the property like gelation and viscosity. The inherent properties like biocompatibility, biodegradability, nontoxicity, high mechanical strength, abundance, and high adsorption capacity have made the alginate-based polymeric systems a promising material in biomedical applications such as drug delivery (controlled/sustained release and tumor therapy), tissue engineering, wound healing, cell encapsulation, and biosensing, etc. Distinctive forms of alginate-based polymeric systems/materials like foams, hydrogels, aerogels, nanocomposites, microspheres, scaffolds, and sponges are being widely explored in biomedical fields. The present review summarizes the sources, extraction/purification methods, properties, and different forms of alginate-based advanced polymeric systems, and their utilization in drug delivery, antibacterial/microbial, and wound dressing applications are thoroughly summarized. The reviewed research work reveals that the alginate-based polymeric systems could be a better candidate for a few of the selected biomedical applications. Moreover, it also reveals that the alginate polymeric systems such as hydrogels, scaffolds, and microspheres are potential candidates in real-time applications when compared to other reported materials. Mainly, alginate polymeric systems available commercially for wound dressing and other applications are still under exploration. In addition, future scopes are employed to highlight existing limitations and solutions of alginates and alginate-based advanced polymeric systems.
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•Alginates beneficial as potential polymeric system in biomedical applications.•Various forms of alginates are comprehensively elucidated.•Improved surface properties and important applications are systematically reviewed.•Properties can be tuned by combining with other efficient synthetic and natural materials as future advanced polymeric systems.