Abstract

A REVIEW ON NOVEL STRATEGIC APPROACHES FOR COLON TARGETED DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS

Praveen Sivadasu, Atluri Devi Priyadarsini* and Padmalatha K.

ABSTRACT

In recent time’s colon targeted drug delivery systems have gained a lot of attention from researchers as a potential alternative to conventional oral drug delivery to treat lower GI tract disease like ulcerative colitis, cirrhosis disease, amoebiasis, colonic cancer, local treatment of colonic pathologies, and systemic delivery of proteins & peptide drug by protecting from the gastric contents of the upper GI tract. Further, these colon-targeted drug delivery systems provide better patient compliance at lower costs. To improve the drug targeting efficacy to the colon different strategies have been explored like pH and time-dependent, prodrug, microbial triggered drug delivery, pressure-controlled drug delivery, pulsatile drug delivery system, osmotic controlled drug delivery system, etc. In the current review, an attempt has been made to give an overview on anatomy and physiology of the colon, various factors affecting the colon drug delivery systems, traditional approaches to deliver the drug to the colon, and recent advancements in delivering the desired drug to colon and their applications by giving a special emphasis on novel formulation technologies.

Keywords: Colon; Targeted Drug Delivery; Lower GI tract; Colonic Cancer; Sustained drug delivery.