Microspheres: A Promising Drug Carrier

Abstract

In the current scenario of delivering therapeutic agents to the target site requires an efficient drug delivery carrier which can deliver the drug only on the site of action in a sustained and controlled manner. Among many such carriers, microspheres fulfill all the parameters for an potent drug carrier. Microspheres are defined as free flowing powders of spherical shape, consisting of proteins or synthetic polymers, which are either biodegradable or non-biodegradable in nature and ideally having a particle size ranging from 1-1000 μm. The main aim of such novel drug delivery system is to overcome the limitations of conventional dosage forms and providing more patient compliance, increase bioavailability and more specifically targeted delivery of drugs or other active agents. This review articles deals with the ideal characteristics, types, methods of preparation, their characteristics evaluation, in vitro-in vivo correlation and applications of microsphere as drug carrier. There are various methods available today for the preparation of microspheres with the goal of achieving reproducibility and consistency with good entrapment efficiency.

Piperine—The Bioactive Compound of Black Pepper: From Isolation to Medicinal Formulations

“…Microspheres are one of the most efficient approaches for sustained and controlled drug delivery to a specific site. They are free‐flowing spherical‐shape powders made of proteins and biodegradable or nonbiodegradable polymers, and their particle size ranges from 1 tp 1000 μm (Rastogi and others ). Adhesive, floating, magnetic, and radioactive microspheres are kinds of microspheres that are used in drug delivery systems.…”

“…Once gastric‐emptying occurs, the particles will distribute over a wide area of absorption sites which increases the chance of drug release. In this system the rate of drug release is slow and prolonged therapeutic effect is attained, which decreases dosing repetition (Soppimath and others ; Rastogi and others ). Boddupalli and others () prepared both floating and mucoadhesive gastro‐retentive piperine microspheres using the solvent evaporation method and investigated their hepatoprotective and antiulcer activities.…”

Solubility Enhancment of Azithromycin by Solid Dispersion Method by using Polymer PVP K 90

“…Various techniques are used to enhance oral bioavailability of poorly water soluble drugs 1 . These strategies may include the use of surfactants, cyclodextrins, Micronization 2 , liquisolid techniques, Liposomes 3 , Ethosomes 4 , Dendrimers 5 , solid dispersions 6 and permeation enhancersand 7 .…”

Optimization of the Release Kinetics of Diltiazem Hydrochloride From Tableted Microspheres

“…The concept of drug delivery has been revolutionized with the advancement in drug delivery systems, especially those offering a sustained and controlled action of drug to desired area of effect 1 .…”