title: Fatty acids as therapeutic auxiliaries for oral and parenteral formulations.
abstract: Many drugs have decreased therapeutic activity due to issues with absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion. The co-formulation or covalent attachment of drugs with fatty acids has demonstrated some capacity to overcome these issues by improving intestinal permeability, slowing clearance and binding serum proteins for selective tissue uptake and metabolism. For orally administered drugs, albeit at low level of availability, the presence of fatty acids and triglycerides in the intestinal lumen may promote intestinal uptake of small hydrophilic molecules. Small lipophilic drugs or acylated hydrophilic drugs also show increased lymphatic uptake and enhanced passive diffusional uptake. Fatty acid conjugation of small and large proteins or peptides has exhibited protracted plasma half-lives, site-specific delivery and sustained release upon parenteral administration. These improvements are most likely due to associations with lipid-binding serum proteins, namely albumin, LDL and HDL. These molecular interactions, although not fully characterized, could provide the ability of using the endogenous carrier systems for improving therapeutic outcomes.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, School of Pharmacy, Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics, USA.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hackett
authors.forename: Jennica L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Zaro
authors.forename: Wei-Chiang
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Patrick C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Guley
authors.forename: Moo J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry*; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D006801:Humans; D007263:Infusions, Parenteral; D007408:Intestinal Absorption; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D005227:Fatty Acids; D008074:Lipoproteins; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations