A review on tragacanth gum: A promising natural polysaccharide in drug delivery and cell therapy.

Tragacanth is an abundant natural gum extracted from some plants and is dried for use in various applications from industry to biomedicines. It is a cost-effective and easily accessible polysaccharide with desirable biocompatibility and biodegradability, drawing much attention for use in new biomedical applications such as wound healing and tissue engineering. Moreover, this anionic polysaccharide with a highly branched structure has been used as an emulsifier and thickening agent in pharmaceutical applications. In addition, this gum has been introduced as an appealing biomaterial for producing engineering tools in drug delivery. Furthermore, the biological properties of tragacanth gum have made it a favorable biomaterial in cell therapies, and tissue engineering. This review aims to discuss the recent studies on this natural gum as a potential carrier for different drugs and cells.