Mucoadhesive assessment – An encyclopedic review

Abstract

Primary objectives behind the use of mucoadhesive drug delivery devices are to prolong their residential time at the particular site to make them target specific, and to enhance the drug absorption process. In this way, the measurement of mucoadhesivity is a crucial step to design the mucoadhesive drug delivery systems. The strategy of the use of mucoadhesive polymeric materials to improve the efficacy of therapeutic treatments has been introduced as long ago and the approach is still of a great interest in the field of pharmaceutical sciences. Nowadays, various methods used to measure the mucoadhesivity are included in the present review. These systems are usually in vitro or ex vivo in nature, and due to their relative ease of implementation and cost-effectiveness, these are limited in scope and still a serious need to improve their trait. The selection of such systems for the in vivo studies is a big challenge. Hence, the new discovery in the field of mucoadhesive drug delivery could be a great achievement to the scientific society.