Techniques for the Assessment of Mucoadhesion in Drug Delivery Systems: An Overview

In recent years mucoadhesive drug delivery systems have been developed for oral, buccal, nasal, ocular, rectal and vaginal routes for either systemic or local effects. Mucoadhesive drug delivery systems are presently being explored because of their potential advantages including increased residence time of the drug at the site of application, relatively rapid uptake of the drug into the systemic circulation, and enhanced bioavailability of the therapeutic agents. This review focuses on trends and techniques for mucoadhesion assessment which includes various experimental methods that have been used for the characterization of mucoadhesive polymers and/or delivery systems. These techniques are categorized into two methods, namely methods for mechanism assessment and methods for formulation evaluation. The techniques used to evaluate mechanisms of mucoadhesion include atomic force microscopy, texture analysis, rheological, wetting and zeta potential measurements for the assessment of interactions between the mucoadhesive polymer/system and mucosal surface. The methods for the evaluation of mucoadhesion based formulations are also further classified as ex vivo, in vitro as well as pharmacokinetic methods. Hence, the techniques highlight the possibility of evaluating mucoadhesion phenomenon in spite of its complexity. (C) Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011