Research progress of polysaccharide drug delivery systems in the treatment of intestinal diseases: A review

Intestinal diseases (IDs), as a type of complex immune-related diseases, have long faced challenges such as low drug delivery efficiency, insufficient targeting, and significant systemic toxic and side effects in their treatment strategies. Although oral administration is widely adopted due to its noninvasiveness and high patient compliance, the heterogeneity of the gastrointestinal environment severely limits the precise release and effective accumulation of drugs in the colon. Therefore, developing a new type of drug carrier system that can overcome physiological barriers and achieve colonic targeted delivery has become one of the core research directions in the field of ID therapy. Drug delivery systems based on natural polysaccharides have received extensive attention due to their unique biocompatibility, modifiers, and environmental response characteristics. Polysaccharides not only have excellent drug loading capacity but also can respond to the specific pH value, enzyme environment, and redox state of the colon through chemical modification or physical embedding strategies, thereby precisely regulating drug release kinetics. This article reviews the therapeutic effect of polysaccharide delivery systems in IDs, providing more approaches for the treatment of ID.