Application of xanthan gum as polysaccharide in tissue engineering: A review

• Published in: Carbohydrate polymers 2018-01, Vol.180, p.128-144
• Main Authors: Kumar, Anuj, Rao, Kummara Madhusudana, Han, Sung Soo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Extracellular matrix; Hydrogels; Polysaccharide; Tissue engineering; Xanthan gum
• ISSN: 0144-8617; 1879-1344
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.10.009

•Xanthan gum is a microbial high molecular weight exo-polysaccharide.•It has excellent biocompatibility and pseudo-plastic behavior.•Shear-thinning and gelling behaviors of XG are more beneficial in tissue engineering.•Recent trends on XG-based biomaterials in tissue engineering are reviewed.•It shows a quite promising future as a biopolymer in tissue engineering. Xanthan gum is a microbial high molecular weight exo-polysaccharide produced by Xanthomonas bacteria (a Gram-negative bacteria genus that exhibits several different species) and it has widely been used as an additive in various industrial and biomedical applications such as food and food packaging, cosmetics, water-based paints, toiletries, petroleum, oil-recovery, construction and building materials, and drug delivery. Recently, it has shown great potential in issue engineering applications and a variety of modification methods have been employed to modify xanthan gum as polysaccharide for this purpose. However, xanthan gum-based biomaterials need further modification for several targeted applications due to some disadvantages (e.g., processing and mechanical performance of xanthan gum), where modified xanthan gum will be well suited for tissue engineering products. In this review, the current scenario of the use of xanthan gum for various tissue engineering applications, including its origin, structure, properties, modification, and processing for the preparation of the hydrogels and/or the scaffolds is precisely reviewed.