BUFFERS FOR IN VITRO EVALUATION OF DRUG PERMEABILITY: A REVIEW

Abstract

There are no standardized or pharmacopoeial methods for the assessment of drug intestinal permeability although a pivotal role of such in vitro data for the understanding of intraluminal factors affecting drug absorption has clearly been established. Recreating physiologically relevant conditions on the bench for in vitro drug permeability purposes is mainly achieved by upgrading simple aqueous incubation buffers to better resemble the in vivo luminal content or its in vivo function (biorelevant media) with the aim of predicting the in vivo formulation/drug performance with highest possible confidence. This paper systematically reviews the composition of such media (simple aqueous buffers, biorelevant media, media for the assessment of paracellular permeability, and media for parallel artificial membrane permeability assays) and the functions of their individual ingredients.