Transdermal Drug Delivery Using Iontophoresis

Abstract

Iontophoresis is a physical mean to enhance the transdermal drug delivery of both ionic and non-ionic drug molecules. It has gained special interest as a non-invasive alternative way of administration to injection for protein/peptide drugs. Electromigration and electroosmosis play the major role for the flux by iontophoresis. Various factors, such as current density, current dose, polarity, drug concentration, ionic strength, existence of co-ions and pH, are discussed for their effect on flux. The results of recent studies on 32 small molecular drugs and 12 protein/peptide drugs are summarized. Various iontophoretic systems developed are also listed. These results indicate that active transport through skin like iontophoresis is gaining more attention, and the application of iontophoresis for both small and high molecular weight drug molecules will be more active.