Vaginal Mucosa – A Promising Site for Drug Therapy

The vagina provides a promising site for local effect as well as systemic drug delivery because of its large surface area, rich blood supply, avoidance of the first-pass effect, relatively high permeability to many drugs and self-insertion. The pharmaceuticals currently used for vaginal delivery includes those that provide protection against viral infections, including Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and other sexually transmitted infection (STDs). The anti infectives used in treatment of vulvovaginal infection, and vaginitis includes chemicals, for example, clotrimazole, miconazole, clindamycin, sulfonamide and probiotics. Currently, there is a variety of pharmaceutical products available on the market designed for intravaginal therapy (tablets, creams, suppositories, pessaries, foams, solutions, ointments, intravaginal rings, films and gels). However, their efficacy is often limited by a poor retention at the site of action due to the self-cleansing action of the vaginal tract. The vaginal cell lining is covered with a viscous and elastic gel. The physicochemical properties of this gel can influence the rate of diffusion from the bulk to the site of absorption. The choice of absorption model depends totally on the questions to be answered with respect to the test compound being studied. Having studied this review, thus one should able to: understand the anatomy and physiology of the vagina as site of drug administration; understand the pharmaceuticals preferred for administration via vagina; understand the different vaginal delivery system; understand the in vitro models to study vaginal permeability.