Recent Advances in Aegle marmelos Fruit Polysaccharides for Pharmaceutical Applications: A Review with Prospectives

Nowadays, the pharmaceutical industry is turning to sustainable and biodegradable materials in place of synthetic or petroleum-based ones because of their low toxicity and biocompatibility. Bael fruit gum (BFG), a naturally occurring, water-soluble polysaccharide from Aegle marmelos (A. marmelos), has been widely explored as a carrier material because of its biodegradability, biocompatibility, and abundant, readily modifiable hydroxyl groups. This review differs from earlier reviews of A. marmelos, natural gums, and plant polysaccharides in that it treats the fruit gum itself as a pharmaceutical material and links extraction, composition and structure, modification chemistry, dosage-form performance, safety, and translational barriers. This review distinguishes gum, mucilage, polysaccharide, and extract-based materials; compares extraction routes and the techniques used to characterize BFG; explains how structure governs water retention, viscosity, gelation, mucoadhesion, and release; and differentiates chemical, physical, enzymatic, and nanoparticle-based modifications. Applications are discussed by dosage form hydrogels and wound dressings, matrix tablets, microspheres, nanocarriers, mucoadhesive systems, films, and scaffolds, with quantitative outcomes where reported, together with the available evidence on safety. Important gaps remain in natural variability between batches, limited control of swelling and release in gastrointestinal fluids (and susceptibility to enzymatic degradation, which may be exploited for colon targeting), the absence of genotoxicity, immunogenicity and large-scale production data, and the lack of clinical evidence. These gaps define priorities for future work on modification technology, sustainable extraction, safety assessment, and biomedical applications.