An Insight To Pullulan: A Biopolymer in Pharmaceutical Approaches

Pullulan is a non-ionic polysaccharide obtained from fermentation of black yeast like Aureobasidium pullulans and is currently exploited in food and pharmaceutical industries due to its unique characteristics. Due to its properties like non-toxic, non-immunogenic, noncarcinogenic, non-mutagenic, pullulan is being explored for various biomedical applications viz., gene delivery, targeted drug therapy, tissue engineering, wound healing, and also being used in diagnostic applications like, perfusion, receptor, and lymph node target specific imaging and vascular compartment imaging. The unique linkage of α (1→4) and α (1→6) in pullulan endows this polymer with distinctive physical traits, including adhesive property and the ability to form fibres. This review article presents an overview of properties, production, derivatives of pullulan, and recent advances of pullulan.