title: Nanotechnology in the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) is only aimed to block or inhibit the pathogenetic steps of the inflammatory cascade. Side effects of systemic therapies, poor targeting of orally administered topical drug and low adherence to prescription represent frequent therapeutic challenges. Recent observations suggest that nanotechnology could provide amazing advantage in this field since particles having dimension in the nanometer scale (nanoparticles) can modify pharmacokinetic step of biologic and conventional therapeutic agents with a better delivery of drugs within the intestinal inflammatory cells. The aim of this review was to provide the clinician with an insight into the potential role of nanotechnology in the treatment of IBD.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic search (PubMed) for experimental studies on the treatment of intestinal inflammation using nanotechnology for the delivery of drugs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The size of the pharmaceutical formulation is inversely related to specificity for inflammation. Nanoparticles can penetrate epithelial and inflammatory cells resulting in much higher, effective and long-acting concentrations than can be obtained using conventional delivery systems. From a practical point of view, this should lead to improvements in both efficacy and adherence to treatment, providing patients with the prospect of stable and prolonged remissions with reduced drug loadings. Reduced systemic side effects could also be expected.
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterology Unit, Department of Life, Health, & Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy. Electronic address: angelo.viscido@univaq.it.
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Viscido
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterology Unit, Department of Life, Health, & Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Capannolo
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterology Unit, Department of Life, Health, & Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Latella
authors.affiliation: University "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Renzo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Caprilli
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterology Unit, Department of Life, Health, & Environmental Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Frieri
mesh_terms: D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Compliance; Drug delivery;; Inflammatory bowel diseases;; Microparticles;; Nanoparticles;; Therapy;