Author: Kathryn A Whitehead, Samir Mitragotri
needles are the primary mode of administering macromolecular drugs such as proteins and peptides, their limitations have motivated researchers to explore alternative routes. One of the most popular alternatives to parenteral drug administration is oral delivery, which requires transport across the intestinal epithelial membrane. Because the epithelium protects against the entry of xenogenic sub-stances into the body, it also acts as a barrier to the delivery of macromolecules, this issue of limited transport can be potentially addressed through the use of chemicals to promote drug absorption across the epithelium, Chemical permeation enhancers aid drug uptake through two distinct mechanisms, both of which involve the mediation of a physical cellular barrier, the passive transcellular route involves the alteration of the structure of the cell membrane, whereas an enhancement of the paracellular route entails an opening of the tight junctions between epithelial cells, many studies have focused their efforts on ascertaining the mechanism of action of a variety of enhancers, Specifically, enhancer mechanism is typically considered to be solely transcellular or paracellular
