Fabrication of Mucoadhesive-Dendrimers as Solid Dosage Forms

: Mucoadhesion has a potential role in the delivery of pharmaceutical medicaments via various routes of administration, viz. oral, nasal, vaginal, and buccal. Mucoadhesion provides controlled drug delivery, sustained drug delivery, and local or site-specific drug delivery. This chapter focuses on the mechanism of bio-adhesion to glycoprotein layer of mucosal membrane. Some of the gastric mucoadhesive solid dosage forms of nanocarrier, viz. nanoparticle, microsphere, and nanofibers, undergo evaluation of mucoadhesive parameters. That includes mucoadhesive strength, tensile strength, swelling index, stability studies, in vivo study, etc. The oral route is the most desirable way among intravenous, subcutaneous, intramuscular, intranasal, intravaginal, etc. for drug delivery and because of patient compliance. One of the novel approaches is where nanocarrier is loaded in the solid dosage form for effective drug action and enhanced local delivery of a drug. Mainly this chapter explains about dendrimer-based oral solid dosage form (tablet) employing mucoadhesive polymers with an aim to improve retention time of drug at desired sites. Dendrimer-loaded mucoadhesive tablets promise controlled drug delivery with a gastro-retentive property, higher drug incorporation, ease of formulation development, and accessible absorption, owing to adjacent interaction with a biological membrane and prolonged retention to mucosa providing higher bioavailability of drugs.