Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This method of drug delivery to the lungs is scientifically and clinically of relevance in treatment and management of respiratory diseases as therapeutic agents get exposed to direct exposure of the lungs. A rational development of the inhalable preparations that are efficient necessitates a detailed understanding of the lung physiology and means of aerosol deposition, which defines the movement, deposition, and retention of drugs in the system. A highly branched airways, large alveolar surface area, thin air-blood diffusion barrier, the lining of the pulmonary surfactant as well as the presence of dense capillary network characterize the respiratory system, and thus affect the deposition, dissolution and absorption of drugs. Irrespective of these benefits, the physiological defense system e.g. mucociliary clearance within the airways conducting the flying as well as the alveolar macrophage phagocytosis of the deep lungs serve as significant obstacles to protracted pulmonary delivery and therapeutic efficacy. The inherent processes such as inertial impaction, gravitational sedimentation, and Brownian diffusion contribute a great deal in the inhaled particle deposition, which is strongly dependent on the aerodynamic properties of particles, their density and breathing specificities of a patient. The local distribution of drugs by these deposition processes and have a significant role to play in attaining the desired targeting in the deep lung, which houses many respiratory diseases such as pulmonary tuberculosis. The chapter introduced a mechanistic approach that connects the physiology of the lungs, together with aerosol deposition, which provides the scientific basis underlying rational approaches in design and optimization.
Language: English
Subfield: Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7161631948