Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles for peroral delivery of bioactives

The benefits of increasing surface area to volume ratio have long been realized by the pharmaceutical industry for addressing the solubility limited oral bioavailability. In the recent past various excipients that include but not limited to polymers and lipids are used to engineer nanostructures that possess one or more of the following properties, improve oral bioavailability, improve therapeutic efficacy, sustain the release of the encapsulated bioactive, minimize toxicity, have the ability to target the pathological site of interest and also perform dual role of diagnosis and delivery of bioactives simultaneously. In this review, we attempt to discuss the use of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles in addressing the solubility/permeability limited bioavailability problems of various bioactives that include drugs as well as antioxidants.