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Review
. 2021 Feb 19:12:618411.
doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.618411. eCollection 2021.

Advances in Oral Drug Delivery

Mohammed S Alqahtani  1   2 , Mohsin Kazi  1 , Mohammad A Alsenaidy  1   2 , Muhammad Z Ahmad  3
Affiliations
Review

Advances in Oral Drug Delivery

Mohammed S Alqahtani et al. Front Pharmacol. .

Abstract

The oral route is the most common route for drug administration. It is the most preferred route, due to its advantages, such as non-invasiveness, patient compliance and convenience of drug administration. Various factors govern oral drug absorption including drug solubility, mucosal permeability, and stability in the gastrointestinal tract environment. Attempts to overcome these factors have focused on understanding the physicochemical, biochemical, metabolic and biological barriers which limit the overall drug bioavailability. Different pharmaceutical technologies and drug delivery systems including nanocarriers, micelles, cyclodextrins and lipid-based carriers have been explored to enhance oral drug absorption. To this end, this review will discuss the physiological, and pharmaceutical barriers influencing drug bioavailability for the oral route of administration, as well as the conventional and novel drug delivery strategies. The challenges and development aspects of pediatric formulations will also be addressed.

Keywords: biodegradable; lipophilic; nanoparticles; oral drug delivery; solubility; stomach.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Schematic diagram of the gastrointestinal tract showing the major regions for drug absorption denoted in red color. GI tract diagram by Olek Remesz (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GISystem.svg), under a Creative Commons license.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Schematic representation of the drug absorption barriers and mechanisms of nanoparticle transport across the intestinal epithelium, which include transcellular transport, receptor-mediated transport, and M-cell-mediated transport.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Advantages of proteins as drug delivery carriers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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