A strategy to enhance bioavailability of drug candidates: Natural Bioenhancers

Abstract

Nowadays herbs are increasingly being used worldwide as therapeutic agents or in collaboration with minerals and vitamins in health supplements, teas etc. There are many advantages of herbalism over modern or conventional medicine such as the herbal/traditional systems of medicine causes lesser side effects than modern medicine; herbal medicine along with lifestyle modification enhances its potency by assisting and boosting the inborn self-healing mechanisms of the patient. Thus, the chronic disorder is not only cured but the possibilities of its recurrence are highly reduced. However, despite having great in-vitro potential, herbs or herbal extracts have demonstrated very less in-vivo activity due to insufficient lipid solubility and irregular molecular size. Thus, this led to poor absorption and poor bioavailability. With the advancement in science and technology, several trials are undergone to enhance the bioavailability of drugs via novel drug delivery systems such as microspheres, nanoparticles, liposomes, transferosomes, lipid-based systems, etc. Besides these novel approaches, there are certain compounds that exist in nature that are found to exhibit enhanced bioavailability rate such as piperine, curcumin, naringin, quercetin, genistein, etc. The objective of this review is to throw light on bioavailability enhancing effects of these natural bioenhancers of herbal origin, their characteristic features and mechanisms of action.