Prodrug strategies for enhancing the percutaneous absorption of drugs
Abstract
The transdermal application of drugs has attracted increasing interest over the last
decade or so, due to the advantages it offers, compared to other delivery methods. The
development of an efficient means of transdermal delivery can increase drug concentrations,
while reducing their systemic distribution, thereby avoiding certain limitations of oral
administration. The efficient barrier function of the skin, however, limits the use of most
drugs as transdermal agents. This limitation has led to the development of various strategies
to enhance drug-skin permeation, including the use of penetration enhancers. This method
unfortunately has certain proven disadvantages, such as the increased absorption of
unwanted components, besides the drug, which may induce skin damage and irritancy. The
prodrug approach to increase the skin’s permeability to drugs represents a very promising
alternative to penetration enhancers. The concept involves the chemical modification of a
drug into a bioreversible entity that changes both its pharmaceutical and pharmacokinetic
characteristics to enhance its delivery through the skin. In this review; we report on the
in vitro attempts and successes over the last decade by using the prodrug strategy for the
percutaneous delivery of pharmacological molecules
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10394/16365https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/19/12/20780
https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules191220780
Collections
- Faculty of Health Sciences [2377]