Abstract

PENETRATION ENHANCERS: ADJUVANTS IN TRANSDERMAL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM

Dr. Dev Prakash, Amrit Pal Singh,*, Nishant Singh Katiyar, Dr. Kamla Pathak, Dr. Devender Pathak and Arti

ABSTRACT

Transdermal drug delivery has been accepted as a potential non-invasive route of drug administration, with advantages of prolonged therapeutic action, decreased side effect, easy use and better patient compliance. However, development of transdermal products is primarily hindered by the low permeability of the skin. A popular approach is the use of penetration enhancers, which enhance the permeability of the stratum corneum. Permeation enhancers are defined as substances that are capable of promoting penetration of drugs into skin and transdermal therapeutic systems offers a more reliable mean of administering drug through the skin. These agents partition into and interact with, the stratum corneum constituents to induce a temporary, reversible increase in skin permeability. Many potential sites and modes of action have been identified for skin penetration enhancers; the intercellular lipid matrix in which the accelerants may disrupt the packing motif, the intracellular keratin domains or through increasing drug partitioning into the tissue by acting as a solvent for the permeant within the membrane. Many compounds have been evaluated for penetration enhancing activity, including water, sulphoxides, pyrrolidones, alcohols and alkanols, glycols, urea, azones, enzymes, fatty acids, surfactants, terpenes & oxazolidinones.

Keywords: Skin, penetration enhancers, chemical permeation enhancer, azones, sulphoxides, terpenes.