Nano Approaches to Enhance Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Activity of Plant Origin Drugs

The activity of herbal medicines depends on overall function of a variety of active components, as all the constituents provide synergistic action and thus enhance the therapeutic value. The nature serves us with the exact proportion of all the constituents for various ailments in a single species. Each active constituent plays an important role and they are all related to each other. However most of the herbal origin drugs possess insoluble character leading to lower bioavailability and increased systemic clearance requiring repeated administration or higher dose, which makes the drug as a poor candidate for therapeutic use. To conquer these obstacles, related research in the field of herbal medicines has not yet been profoundly investigated. In phyto-formulation research, developing nano dosage forms ( Polymeric Nanoparticles (Nanospheres & Nanocapsules), Liposomes, Proliposomes, Solid Lipid Nanoparticles, and Nanoemulsion etc.) has large number of advantages for herbal drugs, including enhancement of solubility and bioavailability, protection from toxicity, enhancement of pharmacological activity, enhancement of stability, improving tissue macrophages distribution, sustained delivery, protection from physical and chemical degradation etc. Thus the nano sized drug delivery systems of herbal drugs have a potential future for enhancing the activity and overcoming problems associated with plant medicines.