Priya Mahajan, Amanpreet Kaur, Geeta Aggarwal, S.L. Harikumar
Drug actions can be improved by new drug delivery system, such as mucoadhesive system. This system remains in close contact with the absorption tissue, the mucous membrane, releasing the drug at the action site leading to improvement in both local and systemic effects. There are many routes of mucoadhesive drug delivery system, oral route is the most ancient as well as preferred by patient being convenient to take. However peroral route has shortcomings such as hepatic first pass metabolism and enzymatic degradation in GIT which is a hindrance to the absorption of most proteins and peptides groups of drugs. The mucosa of the oral cavity presents a formidable barrier to drug penetration, and one method of optimizing drug delivery is by the use of adhesive dosage forms and the mucosa has a rich blood supply and it is relatively permeable. The buccal mucosa is very suitable for a bioadhesion system because of a smooth and relatively immobile surface and accessibility. Mucoadhesion can be achieved by using mucoadhesive polymers. There are different types of mucoadhesive polymers are available. Laminated devices have been developed to achieve sustained drug release.
