Drug Delivery Systems Based on Various Natural Polymers for Lung Diseases

Pulmonary diseases have affected millions of people globally, and continuous steps have been taken by the formulation scientists in developing different drug delivery systems which are entirely based on natural polymeric systems. Efforts have been made to diminish the occurrence and management of associated diseases with the pulmonary system like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchiectasis, tuberculosis, and lung cancer by development of the drug delivery systems which are based on natural polymers. The natural sources like plants, animals, and microbes are all involved in the creation of natural polymers. As these are derived from natural sources, these are biocom- patible as well as biodegradable and these possess lesser toxicity when compared with the synthetic polymers. The significant natural polymers which have been exploited in the development of advanced drug delivery systems in curing the pulmonary diseases are chitosan, hyaluronic acid, cellulose, starch, carrageenan, alginates, etc. In the present scenario, a lot of novel drug delivery systems has been formulated which comprises of natural polymeric systems which could enhance the efficacy as well as efficiency of the therapeutic agent by achievement of controlled or sustained release to the targeted site. In this chapter, an emphasis has been given to various advanced drug delivery systems like nanoparticles, nanospheres, microparticles, microspheres, solid lipid nanocarriers, liposomes, and nanofibers and the devices which are being utilized to deliver the drugs to the respiratory system have also been listed for a better understanding.