Published in:
Open Access
01-12-2019 | Ulcerative Colitis | Review
Novel drug delivery systems of Chinese medicine for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease
Authors:
Caifang Gao, Lijuan Liu, Yangyang Zhou, Zhaoxiang Bian, Shengpeng Wang, Yitao Wang
Published in:
Chinese Medicine
|
Issue 1/2019
Login to get access
Abstract
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an idiopathic intestinal inflammatory disease that comprises ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). IBD involves the ileum, rectum, and colon, and common clinical manifestations of IBD are diarrhea, abdominal pain, and even bloody stools. Currently, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, glucocorticoids, and immunosuppressive agents are used for the treatment of IBD, while their clinical application is severely limited due to unwanted side effects. Chinese medicine (CM) is appealing more and more attention and investigation for the treatment of IBD owing to the potent anti-inflammation pharmacological efficacy and high acceptance by patients. In recent years, novel drug delivery systems are introduced apace to encapsulate CM and many CM-derived active constituents in order to improve solubility, stability and targeting ability. In this review, advanced drug delivery systems developed in the past and present to deliver CM for the treatment of IBD are summarized and future directions are discussed.