Targeting drugs to the gastrointestinal tract has been and continues to be an active area of research. Gut-targeting is an effective means of increasing the local concentration of active substance at the desired site of action while minimizing concentrations elsewhere in the body that could lead to unwanted side-effects. Several approaches to intestinal targeting exist. Physicochemical property manipulation can drive molecules to large, polar, low absorption space or alternatively to lipophilic, high clearance space in order to minimize systemic exposure. Design of compounds that are substrates for transporters within the gastrointestinal tract, either uptake or efflux, or at the hepato-biliary interface, may help to increase intestinal concentration. Prodrug strategies have been shown to be effective particularly for colon targeting, and several different technology formulation approaches are currently being researched. This review provides examples of various approaches to intestinal targeting, and discusses challenges and areas in need of future scientific advances.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1568026611313070002 | DOI Listing |
Curr Atheroscler Rep
January 2025
Nantes Université, CHU Nantes, CNRS, Inserm, l'institut du thorax, F-44000, Nantes, France.
Purpose Of Review: While lipid-lowering therapies demonstrate efficacy, many patients still contend with significant residual risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD). The intestine plays a pivotal role in regulating circulating lipoproteins levels, thereby exerting influence on ASCVD pathogenesis. This review underscores recent genetic findings from the last six years that delineate new biological pathways and actors in the intestine which regulate lipid-related ASCVD risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Healthc Mater
January 2025
College of Chinese Medicinal Materials, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, 130118, China.
Natural plant-derived polysaccharides exhibit substantial potential for treating ulcerative colitis (UC) owing to their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and favorable safety profiles. However, their practical application faces several challenges, including structural instability in gastric acid, imprecise targeting of inflamed regions, and limited intestinal retention times. To address these limitations, pH-responsive, colon-targeting microspheres (pWGPAC MSs) are developed for delivering phosphorylated wild ginseng polysaccharides (pWGP) to alleviate UC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNutrients
December 2024
Cryptobiotix, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 82, 9052 Gent, Belgium.
Background: The human gut microbiota develops in concordance with its host over a lifetime, resulting in age-related shifts in community structure and metabolic function. Little is known about whether these changes impact the community's response to microbiome-targeted therapeutics. Providing critical information on this subject, faecal microbiomes of subjects from six age groups, spanning from infancy to 70-year-old adults (n = six per age group) were harvested.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNutrients
December 2024
Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Firenze, Italy.
Metabolic alterations, including hypermetabolism, lipid imbalances, and glucose dysregulation, are pivotal contributors to the onset and progression of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). These changes exacerbate systemic energy deficits, heighten oxidative stress, and fuel neuroinflammation. Simultaneously, gastrointestinal dysfunction and gut microbiota (GM) dysbiosis intensify disease pathology by driving immune dysregulation, compromising the intestinal barrier, and altering gut-brain axis (GBA) signaling, and lastly advancing neurodegeneration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNutrients
December 2024
Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders Research Group, National Institute of Gastroenterology IRCCS "Saverio de Bellis", Castellana Grotte, 70013 Bari, Italy.
Aims: This study explores the link between body mass index (BMI), intestinal permeability, and associated changes in anthropometric and impedance parameters, lipid profiles, inflammatory markers, fecal metabolites, and gut microbiota taxa composition in participants having excessive body mass.
Methods: A cohort of 58 obese individuals with comparable diet, age, and height was divided into three groups based on a priori clustering analyses that fit with BMI class ranges: Group I (25-29.9), Group II (30-39.
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