Super Porous Hydrogels – Supreme Drug Delivery

Gastro retentive drug delivery system is developed mainly for those drugs that are having narrow therapeutic window and are absorbed mainly in the stomach. A number of controlled drug delivery systems are available to increase the gastric residence time of the drug namely muco adhesive /bio adhesive systems, high density ,magnetic systems, super porous hydrogels, raft systems, low density systems, floating ion exchange resins. Among these super porous hydrogels are one of the most promising drug delivery systems as they swell very fastly upto 200 times of their own weight. These swollen hydrogels remains in the stomach for prolonged periods and releases the loaded drugs. This unique swelling property allows them to be used as a gastric retention carriers provides sustained release. The present review mainly focuses on formulation ,preparation and characterization and applications of super porous hydrogels.