Chapter 11
Pharmaceutical and Therapeutic
Applications of Fenugreek Gum
Purusottam Mishra, Amit Kumar Srivastava, Tara Chand Yadav,
Vikas Pruthi, and Ramasare Prasad
Abstract Plant-derived gums play an essential role in the biopharmaceutical field
due to their advantageous physicochemical properties, nutritional value, ease of
availability and biodegradability. Fenugreek gum extracted from the seeds consists
of galactomannan with galactose to mannose ratio as one where higher number of
galactose enhances the water solubility of fenugreek gum. Exciting contemporary
research shows enormous possibilities of fenugreek gum in biopharmaceutical
landscape as a natural excipient and therapeutic agent. Since last decade, fenugreek
gum has been explored as retarding, mucoadhesive and disintegrating agent for
various biopharmaceutical applications. Moreover, seed extract of fenugreek gum
has been extensively studied as an antidiabetic, anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory
and hepatoprotective agent. This review aims to highlight the applications of fenugreek gum as a natural pharmaceutical excipient and its extensive role in drug
delivery systems. Further, physicochemical properties, toxicological aspects and
therapeutic efficacy of fenugreek gum has been also discussed.
Keywords Antidiabetic Á Exicipient Á Fenugreek gum Á Galactomannan Á
Mucilage
11.1 Introduction
Since the last few decades, we have witnessed a substantial development in the field
of drug delivery using a diverse range of excipients (Raghuwanshi et al. 2017).
These excipients have been extensively used in the conventional dosage forms for
their multiple pharmaceutical purposes such as glidant, binder, sweetner and
thickening agent (Rowe et al. 2009), which may alter the physicochemical properties
P. Mishra Á A. K. Srivastava Á T. C. Yadav Á V. Pruthi Á R. Prasad (&)
Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee,
Roorkee 247667, Uttarakhand, India
e-mail: ramasare.prasad@bt.iitr.ac.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
D. Pal and A. K. Nayak (eds.), Bioactive Natural Products
for Pharmaceutical Applications, Advanced Structured Materials 140,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54027-2_11
379
Pharmaceutical and Therapeutic
Applications of Fenugreek Gum
Purusottam Mishra, Amit Kumar Srivastava, Tara Chand Yadav,
Vikas Pruthi, and Ramasare Prasad
Abstract Plant-derived gums play an essential role in the biopharmaceutical field
due to their advantageous physicochemical properties, nutritional value, ease of
availability and biodegradability. Fenugreek gum extracted from the seeds consists
of galactomannan with galactose to mannose ratio as one where higher number of
galactose enhances the water solubility of fenugreek gum. Exciting contemporary
research shows enormous possibilities of fenugreek gum in biopharmaceutical
landscape as a natural excipient and therapeutic agent. Since last decade, fenugreek
gum has been explored as retarding, mucoadhesive and disintegrating agent for
various biopharmaceutical applications. Moreover, seed extract of fenugreek gum
has been extensively studied as an antidiabetic, anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory
and hepatoprotective agent. This review aims to highlight the applications of fenugreek gum as a natural pharmaceutical excipient and its extensive role in drug
delivery systems. Further, physicochemical properties, toxicological aspects and
therapeutic efficacy of fenugreek gum has been also discussed.
Keywords Antidiabetic Á Exicipient Á Fenugreek gum Á Galactomannan Á
Mucilage
11.1 Introduction
Since the last few decades, we have witnessed a substantial development in the field
of drug delivery using a diverse range of excipients (Raghuwanshi et al. 2017).
These excipients have been extensively used in the conventional dosage forms for
their multiple pharmaceutical purposes such as glidant, binder, sweetner and
thickening agent (Rowe et al. 2009), which may alter the physicochemical properties
P. Mishra Á A. K. Srivastava Á T. C. Yadav Á V. Pruthi Á R. Prasad (&)
Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee,
Roorkee 247667, Uttarakhand, India
e-mail: ramasare.prasad@bt.iitr.ac.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
D. Pal and A. K. Nayak (eds.), Bioactive Natural Products
for Pharmaceutical Applications, Advanced Structured Materials 140,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54027-2_11
379