Trends in muco-adhesive analysis

The last two decades has seen progress in the development of potential mucoadhesive carriers for assisting with the oral and nasal administration of drugs based around the polysaccharide chitosan. This progress has been underpinned by the development of molecular assays for mucoadhesiveness focusing on the mucin component of mucus. We review the developments based around molecular or biophysical analyses and consider how the issue of product stability is now being addressed. Although the targets are pharmaceutical, the technology could be extended to the encapsulation and release of nutrients.