IngentaConnect Transdermal Drug Delivery: Penetration Enhancement Techniques

Author: Heather A.E. Benson¹

Source: Current Drug Delivery, Volume 2, Number 1, January 2005 , pp. 23-33(11)

Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers

Abstract:

There is considerable interest in the skin as a site of drug application both for local and systemic effect. However, the skin, in particular the stratum corneum, poses a formidable barrier to drug penetration thereby limiting topical and transdermal bioavailability. Skin penetration enhancement techniques have been developed to improve bioavailability and increase the range of drugs for which topical and transdermal delivery is a viable option. This review describes enhancement techniques based on drug / vehicle optimisation such as drug selection, prodrugs and ion-pairs, supersaturated drug solutions, eutectic systems, complexation, liposomes, vesicles and particles. Enhancement via modification of the stratum corneum by hydration, chemical enhancers acting on the structure of the stratum corneum lipids and keratin, partitioning and solubility effects are also discussed. The mechanism of action of penetration enhancers and retarders and their potential for clinical application is described.

Keywords: transdermal delivery; skin penetration; enhancer; retarder

Document Type: Review article

DOI: 10.2174/1567201052772915

Affiliations: 1: Western Australian Biomedical Research Institute, School of Pharmacy, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845.

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