ABSTRACT
Nanocarriers, and nanotechnology have been studied extensively for oral drug delivery. An important characteristic of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) nanocrystal is that it is totally composed of API only and no other carrier material is required. This chapter describes the application of nanoparticulate drug and/or delivery system for oral administration. The extent of solubility of a drug in a given solvent is measured as the saturation concentration where further addition of solid drug does not increase its concentration in the solution. The slow dissolution process of the poorly water-soluble drugs is the major factor of its poor bioavailability. Co-solvents are used to enhance the solubilization, solvent capacity and aid in the self-emulsification of the system. They aid the dissolution of hydrophilic surfactants. Various drug molecules can be incorporated into Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLNs). Three different models are mentioned in the literature for drug incorporation into SLNs as follows: Solid solution model; drug enriched shell model; and drug enriched core model.
