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Ivan's Newsletter
July 15, 2006 -- Issue 010
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Hi,

This issue includes...

 "Questions and Answers" Series:
What Are the Different Drug Delivery Systems?

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What Are the Different Drug Delivery Systems?
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Delivery systems describe the different methods for medicine
or supplement introduction in the body. Here are some of the
major delivery systems:

- oral
- sublingual
- buccal
- effervescent
- transdermal
- parenteral (injectable)

Many people don't really know what the difference is between
sublingual and buccal for example. That's why I thought it
would be helpful to do a newsletter on the different delivery
systems.

Oral delivery system. This is the most common and well
known delivery system. It's the way we take pills, tablets,
caplets, softgels, etc. through the mouth. The drug gets
into the blood steam quickly, but it has to pass through
the liver first.

Sublingual and buccal delivery systems allow for the
substance to be absorbed into the blood stream via the
mucous membranes of the oral cavity.

Sublingual is when the substance is placed under the
tongue, and buccal is when the substance is placed
between the cheek and the gum.

Effervescent are those pills that are first dissolved in
water. The advantages are: more of the active substance
gets in the blood stream (this is very convenient for people
who have problems swallowing larger pills); better bioavailability;
it doesn't upset the stomach like some other oral pills do.

Transdermal delivery system is when the drug is
absorbed in the body through the layers of the skin.
The main advantage of this method of delivery is the
avoidance of the first-pass effect - the drug surpasses
the liver. This way more of the active substance gets
into the blood stream.

The most common transdermal methods are topical
creams and patches. The names speak for themselves.

Parenteral delivery system refers to introducing a
drug in the body via injection. This system has the
same advantage as the previous one - the active
substance surpasses the liver upon introducing.

There are three ways for injectible delivery: intravenous,
intramuscular and subcutaneous.

Intravenous is when the drug is injected directly in the
vein. The drug enters immediately in the blood stream.

Intramuscular is when the drug is injected in the muscle
tissue. This is a slow-release method as the active
substance enters the blood flow slowly.

Subcutaneous is when the drug is administered
underneath the skin, in the layer of fat. This is
the method that provides the slowest release of the
active substance. The main reason is the fact that
fat has far less blood vessels compared to muscle.
That cause the drug to be introduced to the blood
flow a lot slower.

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Copyright 2006 by IvanNikolov.com.
All rights reserved.
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