Thiol modification of polysaccharides to improve mucoadhesive properties for buccal drug delivery applications

Polysaccharides are high molecular weight macromolecules abundantly obtained from plant, animal, and marine sources. These are extensively used to develop mucoadhesive drug delivery systems because of their bioadhesive property, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and nontoxicity. However, their mucoadhesive properties are not quite appreciable and need modification for these polysaccharides. Among different approaches, thiol modification is very significant since it helps to form disulfide bonds with the mucin, which leads to increased mucoadhesive strength. Many research works have been done but a summary of this progress is unavailable. This article tries to bridge the lacuna. This article explores the thiol modification of polysaccharides to enhance mucoadhesive properties for buccal drug delivery applications.