Xylan in drug delivery: A review of its engineered structures and biomedical applications

Xylan, an abundant biopolymer mainly extracted from plants and algae, is commonly studied for textile, food and biomedical applications. In this review, different approaches to obtain xylan-based products for drug delivery purposes were described. Investigations about xylan-based films, micro- and nanostructure, with the ability or not to swell (hydrogels), developed for biomedical applications, were summarized. Furthermore, a section on colon drug delivery and the methods that have been developed for the evaluation of these systems were presented.