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Review
. 2023 Nov 4;15(11):2583.
doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15112583.

The Potential of Films as Transmucosal Drug Delivery Systems

Ana Clara Wada de Carvalho  1 , Natália Floriano Paiva  1 , Isabella Kriunas Demonari  1 , Maíra Peres Ferreira Duarte  1 , Renê Oliveira do Couto  2 , Osvaldo de Freitas  1 , Fabiana Testa Moura de Carvalho Vicentini  1
Affiliations
Review

The Potential of Films as Transmucosal Drug Delivery Systems

Ana Clara Wada de Carvalho et al. Pharmaceutics. .

Abstract

Pharmaceutical films are polymeric formulations used as a delivery platform for administration of small and macromolecular drugs for local or systemic action. They can be produced by using synthetic, semi-synthetic, or natural polymers through solvent casting, electrospinning, hot-melt extrusion, and 3D printing methods, and depending on the components and the manufacturing methods used, the films allow the modulation of drug release. Moreover, they have advantages that have drawn interest in the development and evaluation of film application on the buccal, nasal, vaginal, and ocular mucosa. This review aims to provide an overview of and critically discuss the use of films as transmucosal drug delivery systems. For this, aspects such as the composition of these formulations, the theories of mucoadhesion, and the methods of production were deeply considered, and an analysis of the main transmucosal pathways for which there are examples of developed films was conducted. All of this allowed us to point out the most relevant characteristics and opportunities that deserve to be taken into account in the use of films as transmucosal drug delivery systems.

Keywords: buccal drug administration; drug delivery systems; nasal administration; ocular administration; polymers; transmucosal administrations; vaginal administration.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Classification of polymers used in the development of transmucosal films.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Representation of the buccal structure (left) and histological representation (right) of the buccal keratinized epithelium mucosa and non-keratinized epithelium mucosa.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Representation of the nasal structure (left) and histological representation (right) of the olfactory region mucosa and respiratory region mucosa.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Representation of the ocular structure (left) and histological representation of the ocular mucosa (right).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Representation of the vaginal structure (left) and histological representation of the vaginal mucosa (right).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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