Colon-targeted drug delivery has potential to deliver bioactive agents for the treatment of a variety of colonic diseases and to deliver proteins and peptides to the colon for their systemic absorption. Various strategies, currently available to target the release of drugs to colon, include formation of prodrug, coating of pH-sensitive polymers, use of colon-specific biodegradable polymers, timed-released systems, osmotic systems and pressure-controlled drug delivery systems. Among the different approaches to achieve targeted drug release to the colon, is by using pectin and its-derived matrices which are now being examined and tested. Pectin is intact in the upper gastrointestinal tract but degraded by colonic microï¬â??ora. The composition of colonic microï¬â??ora remains relatively consistent across a diverse human population. Thus, pectin drug carriers provide promising potential for colon-targeted drug delivery. This paper reviews pectin-derived formulations for specific drug delivery. Subjects reviewed includes gelation of pectin, salt of pectin, amidated pectins, pectin combination with other polymers, different formulation techniques and methods to evaluate release kinetics of incorporated drugs. Various polysaccharides have been investigated for colon specific drug release. The most favorable property of these materials is their approval as pharmaceutical excipients.
Loading....