Review demonstrates enhanced drug bioavailability and therapeutic synergy across disease models, indicating broad potential for polysaccharide nanocomplexes.
Bioactive polysaccharides such as fucoidan, β-glucans, and medicinal plant polysaccharides contain functional groups that can interact with drug molecules, and some of them also retain their own biological activities. Through reversible noncovalent interactions, these polysaccharides can associate with small-molecule drugs and form supramolecular nanocomplexes. This review discusses hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic association, electrostatic complexation, π–π stacking, and the cooperation among these interactions. The effects of pH, ionic strength, concentration, and solvent composition on assembly behavior are also considered. Nanoprecipitation/solvent exchange, polyelectrolyte complexation, direct aqueous self-assembly, and microfluidic-assisted assembly are compared in terms of nanostructure formation, process control, and reproducibility. Evidence from molecular, colloidal, solid-state, and computational characterization is considered together to clarify the relationship between structure, assembly, and performance. Reported benefits include improved drug dispersibility, colloidal stability, release control, bioavailability, cellular uptake, biodistribution, and safety. In some systems, the polysaccharide component may also contribute to therapeutic effects in tumors, inflammatory diseases, infected wounds, and local regenerative matrices. Quantitative mechanism studies, polysaccharide standardization, biocompatibility assessment, process scale-up, and long-term safety evaluation remain necessary for the further development of these drug delivery systems.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Zhang et al. (2026) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: