Hydrogel Advancement: A New Approach for Gastroretentive Drug Delivery

Oral administration of dosage form is the priority for the patients as per its easy administration, economical formulation and various other reasons. Drugs having good absorption in proximal gastrointestinal tract (GIT) part possess bioavailability problem due to less gastric residence time of drug in the stomach. Thus superporous hydrogel (SPH) is a supreme approach to deliver the drug in upper part of GIT. SPH are prepared by using polymers which are hydrophilic in nature and can absorb considerable amount of water and swell. These SPH increase their dimension due to high swelling and resist entry from pylorus to small intestine. Thus increase gastric residence time. There are three generations of SPH based on their swelling index and mechanical strength. First generation called Conventional SPH (CSPH); second generation called SPH composite (SPHC) and third generation called SPH hybrid (SPHH). Third generation SPH possess good mechanical properties and are elastic in nature. Thus these are more suitable for prolonged gastric residence time. Beside their utility in gastroretentive drug delivery, SPH possess various pharmaceutical applications such as peptide drug delivery, fast dissolving tablet, tissue engineering, appetite suppressant, aneurysum and chemoembolisation. This article describes a brief discussion of SPH and its various aspects related with its method of preparation; characterization; various generations of SPH and its applications.