Drug Delivery Systems
Drug delivery is arguably one of the most extensive and dynamic fields of present-day research. It is also one of the most multidisciplinary areas of research, with inputs from medicine, pharmacology, chemistry, biology, biochemistry, materials science, and physics. Consequently, it is not easy to assemble a comprehensive book and to clearly communicate the knowledge to all the professionals of the diverse disciplines involved. In this book the editor has collected together detailed descriptions of selected important technologies used in drug-delivery systems. The book is structured to provide guidelines for specific applications in drug delivery, with emphasis on the techniques involved for the development of drugdelivery systems rather than on detailed descriptions of physicochemical properties or recent theories. The reader interested in the latter aspects can find further information in the list of references provided at the end of every chapter.
The chapters are well documented and written in clear language for the specialists of each discipline involved. However, the chapters are not grouped by topics or even slightly related, and the index does not compensate for this drawback by cross-referencing between them.
In accordance with the layout of the series Methods in Molecular Biology, most of the chapters begin with a brief description of the fundamental aspects, followed by the methods used to prepare or evaluate the drug-delivery system under discussion. The book starts with an extensive introduction that discusses many different drugdelivery approaches and their adoption by the pharmaceutical industry. However, only a few of the technologies introduced there are reviewed in the main body of the book. Moreover, some of the references in the introduction might not be readily available for all readers.
The second chapter is a succinct description of the role of virus capsids in gene transfer, including complete protocols for the production of adenoassociated viral vectors. The third chapter reviews small interfering RNA delivery systems, but does not cover the methodology. In Chapter 4, chronic drug delivery to the brain through a catheter is explained, with practical details. In Chapter 5, the authors discuss transdermal drug delivery, including the skin abrasion method. In Chapter 6, pulmonary release of peptides is described, and this is followed in Chapter 7 by a detailed description of the preparation of protein particles for lung delivery. Chapter 8 gives a meticulous description of an in vitro model to test drug transport through the blood-brain barrier, which is exemplified by an