Simplified Microassay for Pullulan Synthesis

Pullulan based stimuli responsive and sub cellular targeted nanoplatforms for biomedical application: Synthesis, nanoformulations and toxicological perspective

With growing interest in polymers of natural origin, innumerable polysaccharides have gained attention for their biomedical application. Pullulan, one of the FDA approved nutraceuticals, possesses multiple unique properties which make them highly advantageous for biomedical applications. This present review encompasses the sources, production, properties and applications of pullulan. It highlights various pullulan based stimuli-responsive systems (temperature, pH, ultrasound, magnetic), subcellular targeted systems (mitochondria, Golgi apparatus/endoplasmic reticulum, lysosome, endosome), lipid-vesicular systems (solid-lipid nanoparticles, liposomes), polymeric nanofibres, micelles, inorganic (SPIONs, gold and silver nanoparticles), carbon-based nanoplatforms (carbon nanotubes, fullerenes, nanodiamonds) and quantum dots. This article also gives insight into different biomedical, therapeutic and diagnostic applications of pullulan viz., imaging, tumor targeting, stem cell therapy, gene therapy, vaccine delivery, cosmetic applications, protein delivery, tissue engineering, photodynamic therapy and chaperone-like activities. The review also includes the toxicological profile of pullulan which is helpful for the development of suitable delivery systems for clinical applications.

Pullulan Elaboration by Aureobasidium pullulans Protoplasts

Protoplasts of Aureobasidium pullulans are capable of producing pullulan. Biosynthesis of the polymer pullulan required induction with kinetics similar to those of whole cells. The protoplasts also produced a heteropolysaccharide component containing mannose, glucose, and galactose. The relative proportions of the pullulan and heteropolysaccharide fractions were a function of glucose concentration, with the pullulan content of the total polysaccharide rising from 20% at 2.5 mM glucose to 45% at 20 mM glucose. Elaboration of pullulan by both cells and protoplasts was sensitive to 0.6 M KCl, which was present as the osmotic stabilizer in protoplast experiments. The presence of KCl resulted in a shift in the pH optimum to a more acidic value. The molecular weight of the protoplast-derived pullulan was sharply reduced from the molecular weight of the whole-cell-derived product. Exposure of the protoplasts to proteolytic enzymes had no effect on polysaccharide elaboration.