Abstract
Microbial polysaccharides are natural sources for intermolecular gel structures used in several fields such as food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and other industries owing to their advanced biological properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and nontoxicity. They are produced by microbes such as bacteria, archaea and fungi as secondary metabolites for supporting cellular structure, sustaining cell metabolism, storing energy within the cell, host defense, cell-to-cell signaling, etc. Some microbial polysaccharides show anticancer, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and immunomodulatory activities. Bioactivities of microbial polysaccharides are affected by molecular weight, structure, monosaccharide composition, and functional groups. To enhance bioactivities of microbial polysaccharides, several modification methods are used such as physical and chemical cross-linking reactions. Xanthan gum, dextran, bacterial alginate, gellan gum, hyaluronic acid, curdlan, pullulan, and levan are some well-known microbial polysaccharides. Gelation of these microbial polysaccharides brings them several mechanical and biological properties which allow their use in biomedical applications. In this chapter, general information about microbial polysaccharides and gels, types of gels, characterization of gels, and gelling properties of microbial polysaccharides such as conditions of gel formation, physical properties, stability of polysaccharide gels, and biological properties were covered.
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Akan, G., Oner, E.T. (2022). Gel Properties of Microbial Polysaccharides. In: Oliveira, J.M., Radhouani, H., Reis, R.L. (eds) Polysaccharides of Microbial Origin. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42215-8_34
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42215-8_34
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