Swelling Controlled Drug Delivery Systems
Résumé
This chapter provides an introduction to the physical phenomena, which can be involved in the control of drug release from swellable delivery systems, namely, water diffusion, polymer chain relaxation, drug dissolution and diffusion, as well as polymer dissolution. Emphasis is placed on a mechanistic understanding of the occurring mass transport processes and on physically realistic mathematical theories. Several practical examples are given, illustrating the key properties of swelling-controlled drug delivery systems.