| dc.description.abstract | Alginates as natural, anionic polymers have many properties that make
them very attractive for applications in many different industries. Most
advantageous characteristics that make alginates so widely used are their
low cost, biocompatibility, low toxicity, and especially, easy gel forming in
mild conditions. In addition, an abundance of carboxyl and hydroxyl groups
enables easy chemical or biochemical modification which may give the
further improvement of their properties to tailor some specific demands, or
to eliminate some of their disadvantages. Biomedical applications of alginates mainly include encapsulations for drug delivery and controlled release,
tablet formulation, wound healing, as a scaffold for tissue engineering,
dental impression materials, water absorbents, chelators, and so on. Their
use in this field is attributed to their nonimmunogenicity and hydrophilicity, the simple formulation in any form (such as capsule, film, bead, or fiber),
and easy blending with other polymers. However, application of alginates
for modern biomedical treatments demand a comprehensive understanding
of their properties, broad knowledge about the relationship between their
structure and their functions, as well as, clear insight in possibilities for their
chemical or biochemical methods of modifications. This chapter is focused
on recent advances related to the applications, research, and development
of the biomedical use of alginate and survey of possible chemical and
biochemical means for their modifications. | sr |
