A REVIEW ARTICL ON NASOPULMONARY DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM

Nasal drug delivery has received a great deal of attention as a convenient, reliable and promising method for the systemic administration of drugs. This is due to high vascularity, large surface area, the avoidance of hepatic first pass metabolism, gut wall metabolism and/or destruction in gastrointestinal tract. Since nasal mucosa offer several benefits for target delivery, a wide variety of therapeutic compounds may be administered intranasally for topical, systemic and central nervous system action. Pulmonary drug delivery has attracted tremendous scientific and biomedical interest in recent years and has progress considerably within the context of local treatment for lung diseases, by virtue of enhanced local targeting and reduced systemic side effects with the administration of minute drug dosages. The present review is an attempt to provide some information concerning naso-pulmonary drug delivery system such as advantages, disadvantages, mechanism of drug absorption, anatomy of nasal cavity and respiratory tract, factors affecting nasal drug absorption, dosage form, novel drug formulations and recent advancement of nasal delivery system.

The intranasal route has become one of the most explored areas in the field of pharmaceutical research for the delivery of small polar molecules, vaccines, hormones, peptides, and proteins. Due to its high membrane permeability, high vasculature, low enzymatic environment, and avoidance of hepatic first-pass metabolism, this route has been chosen for the systemic distribution of medicines. The enormous surface area of the nasal mucosa promotes non-invasiveness, direct medication transport to the central nervous system (CNS), and rapid commencement of therapeutic impact. The intranasal route can enhance patient convenience, comfort, and compliance because it is practically painless and simple for doctors or patients to administer. This page seeks to provide information about the nasal cavity, its benefits and drawbacks, factors affecting nasal drug absorption, methods to enhance drug absorption, dosage forms, and delivery systems for pharmaceuticals, and some of their applications.

Nasal route of drug delivery has been considered as a potential administration route to achieve faster and higher level of drug absorption because it is permeable to more compounds than the gastrointestinal tract due to lack of pancreatic and gastric enzymatic activity, neutral pH of the nasal mucus and less dilution by gastrointestinal contents.

It is a useful delivery method for drugs that are active in low doses and show no minimal oral bioavailability such as proteins and peptides. One of the reasons for the low degree of absorption of peptides and proteins via the nasal route is rapid movement away from the absorption site in the nasal cavity due to the muco-ciliary clearance mechanism.

Keywords: Naso-Pulmonary drug delivery, mucociliary clearance, nasal, pulmonary, respiratory tract.