Author E.. Pretorius, C. Willers, J. Hamman, J. D. Steyn
oral administration route is still the most preferred by patients for drug treatment, but is unfortunately not suitable for all drug compounds, protein and peptide drugs (e.g. insulin) are usually administered by injection since they are unstable in the gastrointestinal luminal environment and have poor membrane permeation properties, functional excipients such as drug absorption enhancers can be co-administered, Aloe vera gel has shown the ability to improve the permeation of drugs across the intestinal epithelium, insulin permeation enhancing effects of Aloe Vera Gel gel material across excised pig intestinal tissues from different regions of the gastrointestinal tract and to identify the gastrointestinal region where the highest insulin permeation enhancement was achieved, Insulin transport across excised pig intestinal tissues from the duodenum, proximal jejunum, medial jejunum, distal jejunum, ileum and colon was measured in the absence and presence of Aloe Vera Gel gel (0.5% w/v) using both the Sweetana-Grass diffusion chamber and everted sac techniques, gastrointestinal permeation enhancing effects of Aloe Vera Gel gel on insulin is region specific with the highest effect observed in the ileum and colon
