Sci Pharm www.scipharm.at Review Open Access Cyclodextrins as Drug Carrier Molecule: A Review ARUN RASHEED *, ASHOK KUMAR C. K., SRAVANTHI V. V. N. S. S. Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Sree Vidyanikethan College of Pharmacy, Sri Sainath Nagar, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India-517502 * Corresponding author. E-mail:
[email protected] (R. Arun) Sci Pharm. 2008; 76: 567–598 doi:10.3797/scipharm.0808-05 Published: November 1st 2008 Received: August 5th 2008 Accepted: October 31st 2008 This article is available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.3797/scipharm.0808-05 © Arun et al; licensee Österreichische Apotheker-Verlagsgesellschaft m. b. H., Vienna, Austria. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract The cyclodextrins have a wide range of applications in different areas of drug delivery and pharmaceutical industry due to their complexation ability and other versatile characteristics. The most common pharmaceutical application of cyclodextrin is to enhance the solubility, stability, safety and bioavailability of drug molecules. The purpose of this review is to discuss and summarize some of the findings and applications of cyclodextrin (CD) and their derivatives in different areas of drug delivery. This article highlights the molecular structure, properties like complexation, solubility etc. of cyclodextrins and focuses on its use for parenteral, oral, ophthalmic and nasal drug delivery. Other routes including dermal, rectal, sublingual and pulmonary delivery are also briefly addressed. The objective of this contribution is to focus on the potential use of chemically modified cyclodextrins as high-performance drug carriers in drug delivery systems with emphasis on the more recent developments.