Concepts and Models for Drug Permeability Studies

This book intends to be an updated compilation of the most important buccal, gastric, intestinal, pulmonary, nasal, vaginal, ocular, skin and blood-brain barrier in vitro models for predicting the permeability of drugs. Concepts and Models for Drug Permeability Studies focuses on different approaches and comprises of various models. Each model describes the protocol of seeding and conservation, the application for specific drugs, and takes into account the maintenance of physiologic characteristics and functionality of epithelium, from the simplest immortalized cell-based monoculture to the most complex engineered-tissue models. Chapters also discuss the equivalence between in vitro cell and tissue models and in vivo conditions, highlighting how each model may provisionally resemble a different drug absorption route.

Bruno Sarmento is an Affiliated Investigator at the INEB–Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, based at the University of Porto, Portugal and is Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, at ISCS-N, Gandra, Portugal. His current research is focused on the study of nanomedicines and their application in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields, as well as the use of in vitro cell models as a tool to correlate the transport of biopharmaceuticals and nanoparticles across human mucosa. Bruno has been involved with more than two hundred publications, including three edited books in the field of Pharmaceutical Technology and Nanomedicine, more than one hundred papers in international peer-review journals and several conference proceedings. He also serves as an editorial board member for several international journals and an evaluator of research projects form international agencies. He is an active member of several international associations (AAPS, CRS, EUFEPS, EFSD, FIP) and works on biotechnology and health post-graduate programs at national and international level.