Local drug bioavailability

Nanosystems for Improved Local Drug Bioavailability 606 22.4 Key Issues and Future Prospects 608... 

Localization in specific regions to enhance drug bioavailability... 

After oral administration, drug and metabolite concentrations in blood, urine, and feces can easily be monitored. In contrast, topical application to the skin usually aims at a local treatment. Therefore, the main interest lies in determining the drug level within the skin, in order to evaluate the dermal bioavailability of compounds or assess the bioequivalence between different formulations. In the following sections, appropriate analytical techniques will be presented. 

The ocular route is used mainly for the local treatment of eye pathologies. Absorption of drugs administered by conventional eyedrops can result in poor ocular bioavailabilities (2-10%). This is due to the limited area of absorption, the lipophilic character of the corneal epithelium, and a series of elimination factors that reduce the contact time of the medication with the comeal surface, such as drainage of instilled solutions, lacrimation, and tear turnover and tear evaporation [56]. 

Buccal dosage forms can be of the tablet, patch, gel, or ointment type and can be employed for local or systemic delivery. For local deliveiy, conventional dosage forms such as solutions and various types of tablets (immediate release, effervescent, etc.) are more suitable. These forms generally have uncontrolled drug release with subsequent variable absorption and short residence times, and may not provide sufficient bioavailability. Novel dosage forms such as adhesive tablets, patches, gels, and... 

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