Extraction, characterization, utilization as wound dressing and drug delivery of Bletilla striata polysaccharide: A review

This review provides updated information on a kind of active polysaccharides extracting from Chinese traditional herb Bletilla striata. Preliminary investigations have listed several isolation approaches of extracting Bletilla striata polysaccharide (BSP) and the characterization result showed that the backbone of BSP has mainly consisted of 1,4-linked mannosyl residues and 1,4-linked glucosyl residues. Remarkably, this review sums up the exploitation of BSP as biomaterials, including the preparation, bioactivity and effect mechanism of BSP-based wound dressings and drug deliveries. BSP exhibits excellent healing function mainly due to its modulation of macrophages throughout inflammation and proliferation periods. BSP-based drug vehicles include micelles, nanoparticles, microspheres and microneedles which display anti-cancer functions of targeted delivering drugs and drug capability of itself as well. This review aims to pave the way for further exploitation of this compound in biomedical area.