Gastrointestinal mucoadhesive drug delivery system: an overview

Abstract

The current article has been focused on the mucoadhesive drug delivery system. Mucoadhesive drug delivery system shows promising future in enhancing the bioavailability and specific needs by utilizing the physiological characters of both the dosage form and the mucosal lining. Gastrointestinal mucoadhesive dosage form may be designed to enable prolonged retention time at the site of absorption as well as providing a controlled rate of drug release for improved therapeutic outcome. Various sites for mucoadhesive drug delivery system are bucal cavity, nasal cavity, ocular, gastrointestinal tract, vaginal, rectal. This review article aims to provide an overview of the various aspects of mucoadhesion like mechanism and theories involved in mucoadhesion as well as to describe the most used methodologies and polymers in mucoadhesive drug delivery system.

Key words: Mucoadhesive drug delivery system, Bioavailability, Mucoadhesion, Gastrointestinal tract