Cyclodextrins in drug carrier systems.

One of the important characteristics of cyclodextrins is the formation of an inclusion complex with a variety of drug molecules in solution and in the solid state. As a consequence of intensive basic research, exhaustive toxic studies, and realization of industrial production during the past decade, there seem to be no more barriers for the practical application of natural cyclodextrins in the biomedical field. Recently, a number of cyclodextrin derivatives and cyclodextrin polymers have been prepared to obtain better inclusion abilities than parent cyclodextrins. The natural cyclodextrins and their synthetic derivatives have been successfully utilized to improve various drug properties, such as solubility, dissolution and release rates, stability, or bioavailability. In addition, the enhancement of drug activity, selective transfer, or the reduction of side effects has been achieved by means of inclusion complexation. The drug-cyclodextrin complex is generally formed outside of the body and, after administration, it dissociates, releasing the drug into the organism in a fast and nearly uniform manner. In the biomedical application of cyclodextrins, therefore, particular attention should be directed to the magnitude of the stability constant of the inclusion complex. In the case of parenteral application, a rather limited amount of work has been done because the cyclodextrins in the drug carrier systems have to be more effectively designed to compete with various biological components in the circulatory system. However, the works published thus far apparently indicate that the inclusion phenomena of cyclodextrin analogs may allow the rational design of drug formulation and that the combination of molecular encapsulation with other carrier systems will become a very effective and valuable method for the development of a new drug delivery system in the near future.