Nanotechnology as a versatile tool for enhancing drugs bioavailability

In recent years, significant effort has been devoted to develop nanotechnology for drug delivery, since it offers a suitable means of delivering small molecular weight drugs as well as macromolecules. Nanotechnology focuses on formulating therapeutic agents in biocompatible nanocomposites such as nanoparticles, nanocapsules, micellar systems and conjugates. Since these systems are often polymeric and submicron in size, they have multifaceted advantages in drug delivery. These systems, in general, can be used to provide targeted delivery of drugs, to improve oral bioavailability, to sustain drug effect in target tissue, to solubilize drugs for intravascular delivery and to improve the stability of therapeutic agents against enzymatic degradation. Among the wide variety of materials used in preparing polymeric nanoparticles, chitosan has been a polymer of choice because of its unique properties. The objective of the present study was to enapsulate sulindac within a controlled-release chitosan nanoparticles aiming at providing an efficient control of the drug levels in blood, reducing its side effects and decreasing frequency of administration.