Particulate Systems for Site Specific Drug Delivery

Abstract

The Drug Delivery Research Group at the University of Nottingham has for a number of years been interested in the development of a wide variety of systems for site specific drug delivery to include micro and nanospheres, polymers and prodrugs. This paper will focus especially on the use of colloidal carriers such as nanospheres, emulsions and liposomes to achieve site specific delivery of drugs to sites in the body such as the lungs, liver, spleen, the general circulation, the lymphatics, the bone marrow and the joint cavities after parenteral administration. Microspheres administered by non-parenteral routes of administration will further have the ability of targeting to the lungs, the nasal cavity and the gastrointestinal tract. The use of the gastrointestinal tract is of special importance for vaccine delivery and for the exploitation of bioadhesive particles to modify gastrointestinal transit.