No abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is one of the most common chronic diseases that affect the entire gastrointestinal tract (GIT) especially the colon. Its symptoms extend from mild diarrhea, abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhea to severe conditions which affect the quality of life. Many treatments have been developed to treat and cure IBD and to improve patient's quality of life. The big challenge faces the newly developed treatments is the site of action as the colon presents at the distal end of the GIT and have a complex biological environment. Many technologies have been investigated to target the colon, load higher amounts of active ingredients, and decrease unwanted side effects resulted from upper GIT absorption. This review briefly discusses the IBD, treatment lines, physiological considerations, and all methods of colon targeting technologies starting from the traditional methods which based on pH, time, and microbial content of the colon. Also, we discussed in detail all new techniques based on Micro and Nanotechnology which improve the effectiveness of used therapeutics.

Background/ Aim: Silymarin is a polyphenolic compound with anti-hepatotoxic activity. It has low oral bioavailability due to its poor aqueous solubility. Thus enhancement of its dissolution may lead to a better bioavailability. The objective of the presented study was to prepare fast dissolving enriched silymarin preparation via the preparation of enriched silymarin as solid dispersion and compare it with Legalon capsules in chronic HCV patients in a clinical study. Method: Enriched silymarin solid dispersion was prepared in sufficient amount. A clinical study was conducted including 24 patients. The patients were divided into two groups; each group had 12 patients. One group received the solid dispersion. The second group received Legalon capsules. Patients received capsules 3 times daily for 12 weeks. All these patients had been subjected to full medical history, abdominal ultrasonography, laboratory investigations and quality of life assessment at baseline and after treatment. Results: Solid dispersion had significantly faster dissolution rate. It is effective in reducing AST, ALT, total bilirubin, improving prothrombin concentration, prothrombin time and quality of life. Conclusion: Silymarin solid dispersion is a promising preparation. Large scale and longer duration may be required to ascertain its effects.