Non-conventional starch nanoparticles for drug delivery applications

Abstract

Starch has been used for a variety of biomedical and pharmacological applications, including drug delivery systems. Most of the starch-based drug delivery systems have been developed using starches extracted from commercial crops, including potato, maize, corn, cassava and wheat. However, there are several agricultural underutilized crops that could be useful sources of starch. The availability and low cost of these underutilized crops have triggered the interest in the use of non-conventional starches for diverse applications, especially in the food industry where they are used as emulsifiers, and gelling and thickening agents. The properties of starch are strongly dependent on the botanical source. It has been found that using starches from different sources can result in the preparation of nanoparticles with different properties. In this paper, we report the use of conventional and non-conventional starches in the development of novel nanoparticle drug delivery systems. The processing routes used for the preparation of both starch and starch nanoparticles are reviewed together with the most recent applications including oral, parental and transdermal delivery for cancer, diabetes, hyperuricemia and hypertension treatments, among others.