Pharmaceutical Advances in Cyclodextrin Inclusion Complexes for Improved Bioavailability of Poorly-Soluble Drugs
Cyclodextrins (CDs) are commonly used in drug formulations as solubility enhancers because of their ability to form water-soluble inclusion complexes with poorly water-soluble drugs. Cyclodextrins are useful molecular chelating agents. The cyclodextrins have a wide range of applications in different areas of drug delivery and pharmaceutical industry due to their complexation ability and other versatile characteristics. Orally administered drugs completely absorb only when they show fair solubility in gastric medium and such drugs shows good bioavailability. The solubility and dissolution properties of drugs play an important role in the process of formulation development. The most common pharmaceutical application of cyclodextrin is to enhance the solubility, stability, safety and bioavailability of drug molecules. Cyclodextrins are cyclic oligosaccharides which have recently been recognized as useful pharmaceutical excipients. As a result of molecular complexation phenomena CDs are widely used in many industrial products, technologies and analytical methods. The negligible cytotoxic effects of CDs are an important attribute in applications such as drug carrier, food and flavors, cosmetics, packing, textiles, separation processes, environment protection, fermentation and catalysis. The objective of this review is to discuss and summarize some of the findings and applications of cyclodextrin and their derivatives indifferent areas of drug delivery. The paper also highlights important CD application in drug solubility and dissolution, bioavailability, safety and stability, their use as excipients in drug formulation, design of various novel delivery systems like liposome, microspheres, microcapsules, and nanoparticles.