Transporters and drug absorption

Trabalho Final de Mestrado Integrado, Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Farmácia, 2015The gastrointestinal tract has been used to deliver drug compounds in a large range of different treatments. The peculiar properties of the gastrointestinal tract involving the chemical environment and the intestinal mucosa physiology can influence the drug compounds absorption, becoming their bioavailability unexpected. In addition, there are intestinal transporters (efflux transporters) that limit the absorption rate of compounds and others (influx transporters) that are mainly responsible for the passage of compounds from the lumen to the bloodstream. The absorption process becomes more complex having in mind the pre-systemic metabolism. The knowledge of these mechanisms and their interactions is imperative to improve the drug design and consequently its oral bioavailability, such as antivirals and chemotherapeutics