Pemanfaatan Nanoteknologi dalam Sistem Penghantaran Obat Baru untuk Produk Bahan Alam

Abstrak

Natural products have been known to have a major role in maintaining health. Some studies reported that they demonstrated various pharmacological activities and provided a lead compound or drug candidate. Isolated compounds from the extracts have been studied both in vitro and in vivo to determine their effects and bioavailability in the body. However, more than 40% natural products have low solubility in water, or even give a high toxicity. Low solubility in water and the lack of ability to penetrate the absorption barrier may affect the bioavailability in the body. Furthermore, the bioavailability of a compound is also influenced by the stability of drugs in the pH of the stomach and colon, metabolism by normal microflora in the digestive tract, absorption through the intestinal wall, efflux pumps mechanism and first-pass metabolism. Solution to overcome these problems is by developing a drug delivery system known as a novel drug delivery system (NDDS). The NDDS is a more modern system to control the release of drugs so that it will give better pharmacological activity. Making dosage forms based on this novel technology can be an alternative for manufacturing herbal products. It can increase their bioavailability in the body so that it can provide a better therapeutic effect.