Abstract
Topical and transdermal delivery systems are of undeniable significance and ubiquity in healthcare, to facilitate the delivery of active pharmaceutical ingredients, respectively, onto or across the skin to enter systemic circulation. From ancient ointments and potions to modern micro/nanotechnological devices, a variety of approaches has been explored over the ages to improve the skin permeation of diverse medicines and cosmetics. Amongst the latest investigational dermal permeation enhancers, ionic liquids have been gaining momentum, and recent years have been prolific in this regard. As such, this review offers an outline of current methods for enhancing percutaneous permeation, highlighting selected reports where ionic liquid-based approaches have been investigated for this purpose. Future perspectives on use of ionic liquids for topical delivery of bioactive peptides are also presented.
Highlights
Topical and transdermal delivery systems are of undeniable significance and ubiquity in healthcare, to facilitate the delivery of active pharmaceutical ingredients, respectively, onto or across the skin to enter systemic circulation
In view of the above, this review offers a snapshot of the latest developments regarding the most common methods for dermal and transdermal delivery (DTD) of [bio]pharmaceuticals, highlighting the emerging role of Ionic liquids (ILs) for enhancement of percutaneous absorption of diverse payloads, including proteins and peptides
This study revealed that all tested NCs were efficient for photoprotection of the phytopharmaceutical, with nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) offering the best pharmacological performance, provided the matrix fluidity was tuned for optimized skin occlusion and drug release rate [80]
Summary
Sonophoresis has been thoroughlyexplored exploredfor forenhancement enhancementofofpercutaneous percutaneous absorption, mainly—but not exclusively—through cavitation absorption, mainly—but not exclusively—through cavitationor orultrasound ultrasound(US)-based (US)-based techniques Both cavitation [22] and US-based [23] sonophoretic methods have been recently considered for wound healing approaches, with encouraging results, including in diabetic mice [23]. The most popular direct methods include (i) the use of different types of microneedles (MNs)—solid, coated, hollow, dissolving, or hydrogel-forming—to force percutaneous permeation of bioactive compounds, and (ii) microdermabrasion (mechanics-driven) and thermal ablation (heatdriven). Other physical methods have been used to promote percutaneous permeation, though to a lesser extent; one example is that of jet injectors, whereby solid, liquid, or plasma jets force drug delivery by means of the high pressure exerted when they hit the skin [1]. The distinct physical methods mentioned above act through different permeation mechanisms and have been employed alone or combined, with each other or with nonphysical methods, to enhance the absorption of a wide range of APIs, and cosmeceuticals, through the skin [1,9,35,36]
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