Recent advances in plant polysaccharide-mediated nano drug delivery systems

Plant polysaccharides with multiple biological activities and health benefit effects are usually considered as natural active macromolecules in food and medicine dual purposes plant. Nerveless, there are still some problems with plant polysaccharides, such as the lack of concentration in the range of action, poor stability, rapid blood clearance and poor targeting, which affect the bioavailability and clinical application of plant polysaccharides. Over the last decade, researchers have increasingly turned their attention toward understanding the role of plant polysaccharides in normal cellular function and in disease, while opening up new research fronts in designing and developing nanomaterial delivery systems for the treatment of cancer, immune diseases and other diseases using plant polysaccharides as a carrier or object drug. However, deficiencies of NDDS research limits the application of polysaccharides in disease treatment. Herein, advances in the application of plant polysaccharides in nano-based drug delivery systems are reviewed. In addition, the further research on plant polysaccharides in nanotechnology was prospected. (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V.