1st Edition

Polysaccharides in Medicinal Applications

By Severian Dumitriu Copyright 1996

    Integrates the latest advances in polysaccharide chemistry and structure analysis, with the practical applications of polysaccharides in medicine and pharmacy, highlighting the role of glycoconjugates in basic biological processes and immunology. It also presents recent developments in glycobiology and glycopathology. The work covers bacterial, fungal and cell-wall polysaccharides, microbial and bacterial exopolysaccharides, industrial gums, the biosynthesis of bacterial polysaccharides, and the production of microbial polysaccharides.

    Polysaccharides - structure and general properties: chemical synthesis of polysaccharides; curdian and succinoglycan; pullulan; cellulose and its derivatives - structures, reactions, and medical uses; hemicelluloses; hydrogels; polysaccharides in medicine: glycobiology - general aspects; structure and biosynthesis of glycoproteins; normal and pathological catabolism of glycoproteins; oligosaccharide antibiotics; bacterial capsular polysaccharides - immunogenicity and vaccines;polysaccharides and glycoconjugates as human vaccines; recombinant glycoproteins - pitfalls and strategy; glycoconjugates and diseases; medical applications of dextran and its derivatives; polysaccharides in oxygen-carrier blood substitutes; fucan sulfates and their anticoagulant activities; pharmaceutical and medical applications of cyclodextrins; bioartificial pancreas; chitin and chitosan - medical applications; chitosan - a novel matrix for hemoperfusion; membranes as biomaterials; polysaccharides used in ophthalmology; hydrogels as support for drug delivery systems; polysaccharides as supports for antiviral and antitumoral drugs.

    Biography

    Severian Dumitriu