Abstract

A REVIEW ON TRANSUNGUAL DRUG DELIVARY SYSTEM

P. Nandini*, N. L. Prasanthi, S. S. Mani Kiran and N. Rama Rao

ABSTRACT

The nail disorders are mainly due to fungal infection. When the drug is given through oral or systemic route, the potency of drugs gets decreased at the site of action. To avoid this loss of drug potency topical route of administration is used. The absorption of the drugs into the nail sunit to the nail plate is essential to produce the therapeutic effect. By the means of nail drug delivery system oral toxicity of different drugs like anti-fungal can be avoided and also drugs get longer contact time at site of application. The topical therapy is highly desirable in treating the nail disorders due to its localized effects which results in minimal adverse systemic events and possibly improved adherence. However, the effective ness of the topical therapies is limited by the minimal drug permeability through the nail plate. The use of chemical permeation enhancer has been a common approach for enhancing trans-nail delivery of drugs. The potential of physical permeation enhancement techniques has been found to be higher than the potential of chemical permeation enhancer in transdermal delivery of macromolecular therapeutic agent and hydrophilic drugs. However the application of physical permeation enhancement technique has not been explored for trans-nail drug delivery. This new therapy may reduce the need for hazardous systemic administration of oral anti fungal drugs for nail infections. Also the analysis of the drugs penetration is a difficult task. Here in the present article a method to analyze the drugs permeated across nail barrier is suggested.

Keywords: Anti-fungal drugs, Human nail, Nail disorder, Nail barrier.