Formulation of multifunctional oil-in-water nanosized emulsions for active and passive targeting of drugs to otherwise inaccessible internal organs of the human body

• Published in: International journal of pharmaceutics 2009-10, Vol.381 (1), p.62-76
• Main Author: Tamilvanan, Shunmugaperumal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Drug Compounding - methods; Drug Delivery Systems - methods; Emulsions - chemistry; Emulsions - therapeutic use; General pharmacology; Generations of emulsion; Genetic Therapy - methods; Humans; Medical sciences; Multifunctional; Nanosized emulsion; Nanostructures - chemistry; Nanostructures - therapeutic use; Opsonin Proteins - therapeutic use; Opsonization; Organ Specificity; Pharmaceutical technology. Pharmaceutical industry; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Pharmacopoeial and safety issues; Unique property
• ISSN: 0378-5173; 1873-3476
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2009.08.001

Oil-in-water (o/w) type nanosized emulsions (NE) have been widely investigated as vehicles/carrier for the formulation and delivery of drugs with a broad range of applications. A comprehensive summary is presented on how to formulate the multifunctional o/w NE for active and passive targeting of drugs to otherwise inaccessible internal organs of the human body. The NE is classified into three generations based on its development over the last couple of decades to make ultimately a better colloidal carrier for a target site within the internal and external organs/parts of the body, thus allowing site-specific drug delivery and/or enhanced drug absorption. The third generation NE has tremendous application for drug absorption enhancement and for ‘ferrying’ compounds across cell membranes in comparison to its first and second generation counterparts. Furthermore, the third generation NE provides an interesting opportunity for use as drug delivery vehicles for numerous therapeutics that can range in size from small molecules to macromolecules.