Alginate Based Nanocarriers for Drug Delivery Applications

Background: Now a day's natural polymer based nanoparticulate system have been widely studied as particulate vehicles in the bio-medical and pharmaceutical area. Alginate, a natural biopolymer show good biodegradability, biocompatibility and non toxic, has received attention to utilise as a carrier for preparation of polymeric nanoparticles. Chemically and physically alginate can modified easily and obtained various structure having various properties, and versatile applications. Various properties and structure such as biodegradability, gelling property, mechanical strength and cell affinity can be obtained through combination of alginate with other bio-polymers, immobilization of specific molecules such as sugar molecules and peptide through chemical or physical cross-linking. Conclusion: In this article, we report different method of preparation of alginate nanoparticles, and also focus on recent advances of nanoparticles made of alginate and its modified form in the field of drug delivery applications.