Applications of Polymers in Small Intestinal Drug Delivery
Delivery to small intestine is the most sought and favorable approach among the therapeutics delivered by oral route. The significant importance of preferential delivery of drugs to the intestine is the availability of large surface area, diverse transport mechanism, and favorable pH/ionic condition and environment for ease of absorption of molecules across the intestinal epithelium and their distribution across the body.
However, delivery to intestine requires the dosage form to be protected from the harsh condition during its transit across stomach and requires to be released at intestinal pH before the peristalsis propels it to the colon region. A range of natural and synthetic polymers are available to meet the dosage-specific needs that range from providing a barrier function in the form of a simple film coating and/or conferring mucoadhesive properties and/or matrixing the active ingredient for delayed or sustained release effects.
To overcome the disadvantages of polymers, several chemical modifications have been done yielding polymers with superior properties and have provided a range of materials to suite the delivery needs.
Article Information: Author links open overlay panelRohan Lalani, Rajan Samant, Ambikanandan Misra. Applications of Polymers in Drug Delivery (Second Edition). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-819659-5.00004-5
Read the first chapter of the book here, the second chapter here, and the third chapter here.