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Drug Delivery: Overview

Drug Delivery: Overview

The selection of a drug's delivery route depends upon its physicochemical properties, including lipid or water solubility and ionization, as well as the therapeutic requirement, such as immediate or sustained effect. These routes can be divided into three primary categories: enteral, parenteral, and topical.
Enteral delivery involves administering drugs directly through swallowing, sublingual placement, or buccal application. Orally administered drugs predominantly navigate the...

Bioavailability Enhancement: Drug Permeability Enhancement

Bioavailability Enhancement: Drug Permeability Enhancement

Body:After oral administration, poor permeability often limits the rate at which drugs are absorbed through the intestinal epithelium. Enhancing drug permeability is crucial for effective therapy, and several strategies have been developed to overcome this challenge.One effective strategy involves the use of lipid-based formulations. These formulations enhance dissolution and solubility, targeting physiological mechanisms to increase drug absorption. This includes stimulating bile salt...

Drug Delivery: Miscellaneous Routes

Drug Delivery: Miscellaneous Routes

Drug delivery methods like oral inhalation, nasal sprays, transdermal patches, eye drops, intravitreal injection, and rectal administration provide localized effects with reduced toxicity.
Oral inhalation and nasal sprays swiftly transfer drugs across the respiratory epithelium's mucosal layer. Inhaled glucocorticoids and bronchodilators directly target lung conditions such as asthma, while fluticasone nasal spray mitigates allergic rhinitis.
Transdermal patches transport drugs...

Non-Oral Extravascular Drug Absorption Routes

Non-Oral Extravascular Drug Absorption Routes

Non-oral extravascular routes, which encompass sublingual, buccal, topical, intramuscular, and inhalation methods, primarily utilize passive diffusion to transport drugs into the systemic circulation. The absorption rates and effectiveness of these routes depend on the drug's physicochemical properties, as well as the patient's anatomical and pathophysiological state.
Lipophilic drugs that are stable at salivary pH (6) and exhibit minimal binding to the oral mucosa are absorbed more...

Cellular Membranes and Drug Transport

Cellular Membranes and Drug Transport

Drugs must traverse multiple biological barriers, such as multi-layered skin, single-layered intestinal epithelium, and the plasma membrane, to reach their target sites within the body. The plasma membrane, a highly structured composite of phospholipids, carbohydrates, and proteins, is the cell's protective boundary, facilitating selective substance exchange.
Phospholipids arrange themselves into a bilayer, with hydrophilic heads oriented outward and hydrophobic tails facing inward.

Mechanisms of Drug Absorption: Paracellular, Transcellular, and Vesicular Transport

Mechanisms of Drug Absorption: Paracellular, Transcellular, and Vesicular Transport

Drugs need to permeate cell membranes to reach their target sites after administration. Orally administered drugs must transcend intestinal epithelial membrane barriers to infiltrate the systemic circulation. Drugs with a molecular weight of less than 500 Daltons diffuse through gaps between neighboring cells, called paracellular pathways.
However, most drugs use the transcellular route, traversing directly through the cell membranes via two mechanisms: passive and active transport. Passive...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 18, 2026

Development, Characterization, and Evaluation of CAGE-based Ionic Liquid Systems for Transdermal Delivery

Development, Characterization, and Evaluation of CAGE-based Ionic Liquid Systems for Transdermal Delivery

Published on: September 26, 2025

Lipid-Based Drug Delivery Systems: Concepts and Recent Advances in Transdermal Applications.

Lefkothea Antonara¹, Efstathia Triantafyllopoulou¹, Maria Chountoulesi¹

¹Section of Pharmaceutical Technology, Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15784 Athens, Greece.

Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland)

|September 12, 2025

Summary

Lipid nanocarriers offer effective transdermal drug delivery due to their skin-like properties. This review highlights recent advancements in liposomes, SLNs, NLCs, ethosomes, and transfersomes for enhanced clinical translation.

Keywords:

Quality by Design drug delivery nanosystems ethosomes lipid nanoparticles liposomes nanostructured lipid carriers skin administration solid lipid nanoparticles transdermal transferosomes

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Development, Characterization, and Evaluation of CAGE-based Ionic Liquid Systems for Transdermal Delivery

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Published on: September 26, 2025

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Solid Lipid Nanoparticles SLNs for Intracellular Targeting Applications

Solid Lipid Nanoparticles SLNs for Intracellular Targeting Applications

Published on: November 17, 2015

Area of Science:

Pharmaceutical Sciences
Biomaterials Science
Nanotechnology

Background:

Lipid-based nanocarriers are favored for transdermal drug delivery.
Their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and lipophilicity facilitate skin penetration.
They interact effectively with the stratum corneum's lipid membrane.

Purpose of the Study:

To review recent developments in lipid-based nanoplatforms for transdermal drug delivery.
To focus on advancements aimed at rapid clinical translation.
To discuss fabrication, challenges, and novel formulations.

Main Methods:

Review of current literature on lipid nanocarriers for transdermal administration.
Analysis of various nanocarrier types including liposomes, SLNs, NLCs, ethosomes, and transfersomes.
Discussion of fabrication techniques and Quality by Design (QbD) applications.

Main Results:

Liposomes, SLNs, NLCs, ethosomes, and transfersomes show promise for transdermal delivery.
These systems possess suitable physicochemical properties and encapsulation efficiencies for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs).
Strategies for overcoming fabrication and delivery challenges are being developed.

Conclusions:

Lipid nanocarriers are versatile platforms for enhancing transdermal drug delivery efficacy.
Continued research and QbD approaches are crucial for clinical translation.
Addressing existing limitations will further optimize these systems for therapeutic applications.