Towards the Development of Delivery Systems of Bioactive Compounds With Eyes Set on Pharmacokinetics

Delivery systems carrying natural bioactive compounds for enhanced targeting and controlled release are capturing increasing attention. High loadings and sustained release are common design goals. However, in the case of compounds naturally present in human nutrition and physiology, further efforts are justified to optimize their bioactivity and promote clinical success. In this work, it is proposed a specific attention to the regulation of drug temporal presentation as important factor to obtain novel multifunctional delivery systems meeting higher therapeutic efficiencies. Case studies on the relation between drug release dynamics and biological responses are presented for some major delivery strategies and different bioactive molecules. Pharmacokinetic essential concepts and issues concerning the multi-target mode of action typical of the pharmacological properties of natural compounds are discussed in the perspective of improving the development of efficient drug formulations. Several classes of controlled release systems are considered through the chapter, and laboratory setups for testing films and particulate delivery systems are detailed, as well as the application of models for kinetic analysis. Descriptions are illustrated with experimental results obtained with caffeine and epicatechin in our laboratory. Future investigations will benefit from preclinical and clinical evaluation of the new formulations developed by emerging approaches and tools that are being suggested by diverse authors. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion