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Potentials of ionic liquids to overcome physical and biological barriers
Elfa Beaven1, Raj Kumar1, Jeong Man An2
1Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79902, United States; Biomedical Engineering Program, College of Engineering, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, United States.
Abstract:
Over the last decades, ionic liquids (IL) have shown great potential in non-invasive delivery starting from synthetic small molecules to biological large molecules. ILs are emerging as a particular class of drug delivery systems due to their unique physiochemical properties, simple surface modification, and functionalization. These features of IL help achieve specific design principles that are essential for a non-invasive drug delivery system. In this review, we have discussed IL and their applications in non-invasive drug delivery systems. We evaluated state-of-the-art development and advances of IL aiming to mitigate the biological and physical barriers to improve transdermal and oral delivery, summarized in this review. We also provided an overview of the various factors determining the systemic transportation of IL-based formulation. Additionally, we have emphasized how the ILs facilitate the transportation of therapeutic molecules by overcoming biological barriers.
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