A brief overview of the oral delivery of insulin as an alternative to the parenteral delivery

Diabetes mellitus greatly affects the quality of life of patients and has a worldwide prevalence. Insulin is the most commonly used drug to treat diabetic patients and is usually administered through the subcutaneous route. However, this route of administration is ineffective due to the low concentration of insulin at the site of action. This route of administration causes discomfort to the patient and increases the risk of infection due to skin barrier disturbance caused by the needle. The oral administration of insulin has been proposed to surpass the disadvantages of subcutaneous administration. In this review, we give an overview of the strategies to deliver insulin by the oral route, from insulin conjugation to encapsulation into nanoparticles. These strategies are still under development to attain efficacy and effectiveness that are expected to be achieved in the near future.

Keywords

Diabetes mellitus Insulin Oral delivery Nanoparticle Absorption enhancer Enzyme inhibitor Intestinal patch

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/16646

Publisher

Bentham Science Publishers

DOI

10.2174/1566524019666191010095522

Collections

CCM2-Artigos (em revistas ou actas indexadas)
FCT2-Artigos (em revistas ou actas indexadas)

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cclicense-by

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