With the quick emergence of antibiotic resistance and multi-drug resistant microbes, more and more attention has been paid to the development of new antimicrobial agents that have potential to take the challenge. Polysaccharides, as one of the major classes of biopolymers, were explored for their antimicrobial properties and applications, owing to their easy accessibility, biocompatibility and easy modification. Polysaccharides and their derivatives have variable demonstrations and applications as antimicrobial agents and antimicrobial biomaterials. A variety of polysaccharides, such as chitosan, dextran, hyaluronic acid, cellulose, other plant/animal-derived polysaccharides and their derivatives have been explored for antimicrobial applications. We expect that this review can summarize the important progress of this field and inspire new concepts, which will contribute to the development of novel antimicrobial agents in combating antibiotic resistance and drug-resistant antimicrobial infections.

随着抗生素抗性和多药耐药性微生物的迅速出现，人们越来越关注开发具有挑战性潜力的新型抗菌剂。多糖作为生物聚合物的主要类别之一，由于其易于获取，生物相容性和易改性的特性，已被研究出其抗菌特性和应用。多糖及其衍生物作为抗菌剂和抗菌生物材料具有不同的示范和应用。已经探索了多种多糖，例如壳聚糖，葡聚糖，透明质酸，纤维素，其他植物/动物来源的多糖及其衍生物，以用于抗菌应用。我们希望这次审查可以总结该领域的重要进展并激发新的观念，