New prospective in treatment of Parkinson's disease: Studies on permeation of ropinirole through buccal mucosa

The aptitude of ropinirole to permeate the buccal tissue was tested using porcine mucosa mounted on Franz-type diffusion cells as ex vivo model. Drug permeation was also evaluated in presence of various penetration enhancers and in iontophoretic conditions.Ropinirole, widely used in treatment of motor fluctuations of Parkinson's disease, passes the buccal mucosa. Flux and permeability coefficient values suggested that the membrane does not appear a limiting step to the drug absorption. Nevertheless, an initial lag time is observed but the input rate can be modulated by permeation enhancement using limonene or by application of electric fields. Absorption improvement was accompanied by the important reduction of the lag time; at once the time required to reach the steady state plasma concentration was drastically decreased.On the basis of these results we could assume that clinical application of ropinirole by buccal delivery is feasible.

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