Locust Bean Gum and Its Application in Pharmacy and Biotechnology: an Overview

Locust bean gum is a versatile biopolymer which finds its application in various fields. The conventional use of Locust bean gum as an excipient in drug products generally depends on the thickening, gel forming and stabilizing properties. A need for prolonged and better control of drug administration has increased the demand for tailor made polymers. Various significant works have been carried out in combination with the other polymers to make the formulation sustained and targeted. Recently a new work has been carried out by its chemical modification specifically its carboxymethylation derivative to improve its physico –chemical characteristics in terms of increased aqueous solubility. This derivatized gum can be used for the preparation of sustained release micro beads. Even locust bean gum has also finds its application in the field of biotechnology specifically in tissue engineering for the manufacturing of tissue scaffolds. Thus the gum has wide application in the both pharmaceutical and biotechnological field.