RESINS, GUMS, AND MUCILAGES: THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL USE

Natural polymers with great therapeutic and pharmaceutical potential include resins, gum, and mucilage. These natural resources and their various properties are important in contemporary drug preparations and traditional medicine. Excipients that are employed to make tablets, capsules, controlled-release systems, and topical preparations are resins, gums, and mucilages. They have been studied as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, gastroprotective and immunomodulatory in the management of several conditions such as arthritis, gastrointestinal diseases and wound healing. In addition, they are biocompatible, biodegradable, and are sustainably sourced, among other qualities that present them as alternatives to synthetic polymers. Such obstacles as fluctuation in natural sources and the necessity of standardization, however, persist. The developments in structural modifications, artificial intelligence modeling and applications in regenerative medicine and 3D-printed systems are very promising in the improvement of their application in drug delivery and tissue engineering. This review explains the classification, treatment characteristics, and applications of such natural polymers in industries and their future in other fields.