Colon Targeted Drug Delivery System: a Review

Day by day there are new developments in field of colon specific drug delivery system. Colonic drug delivery has gained increased importance not just for the delivery of the drugs for the treatment of local diseases associated with the colon like Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, etc. but also for the systemic delivery of proteins, therapeutic peptides, anti-asthmatic drugs, antihypertensive drugs and anti-diabetic agents. New systems and technologies have been developed for colon targeting and to overcome pervious method’s limitations. Colon targeting holds a great potential and still need more innovative work. This review article discusses, in brief, introduction of colon along with the novel and emerging technologies for colon targeting of a drug molecule. INTRODUCTION: The oral aspect is considered to be most convenient for administration of drugs to Patients. Normally dissolves in stomach field as intestinal fluid and absorb from these regions of GIT. It is a serious drawback in conditions when localized delivery of drugs into the colon is required as drugs needs to be protected from the hostile environment of upper GIT. Targeted drug delivery into the colon is highly desirable for local treatment of variety of bowl diseases such as ulcerative colitis, cirrhosis disease, amoebiasis, colonic cancer, local treatment of colonic pathologies and systemic delivery of protein and peptide drugs. The colon specific drug delivery system (CDDS) should be capable of protecting the drug in route to the colon i.e. drug release and absorption should not occur in stomach as well as small intestine, and neither the bioactive agent should be degraded either of the dissolution sites, but only released absorbed once the system reaches the colon . Formulations for colonic delivery are also suitable for delivery of drugs, which are polar and/or susceptible to chemical and enzymatic degradation in upper GIT; in particular, therapeutic proteins and peptides are suitable for colonic deliveries . Proteins and peptides such as insulin, calcitonin and vasopressin may be delivered systematically via colonic absorption. Other examples include novel peptides such as cytokine inhibitors and antibiotics, which are useful in treatment of IBD and GI infections respectively. Apart from protecting these labile molecules, colon also offers an opportunistic site for oral delivery of vaccines because it is rich in lymphoid tissue. A colonic targeted approach found to be effected in minimizing uncertain side effects . Correspondence to Author: