Overview on gastroretentive drug delivery systems for improving drug bioavailability

In recent decades, many efforts have been made in order to improve drug bioavailability after oral administration. Gastroretentive drug delivery systems are a good example; they emerged to enhance the bioavailability and effectiveness of drugs with a narrow absorption window in the upper gastrointestinal tract and/or to promote local activity in the stomach and duodenum. Several strategies are used to increase the gastric residence time, namely bioadhesive or mucoadhesive systems, expandable systems, high-density systems, floating systems, superporous hydrogels and magnetic systems. The present review highlights some of the drugs that can benefit from gastroretentive strategies, such as the factors that influence gastric retention time and the mechanism of action of gastroretentive systems, as well as their classification into single and multiple unit systems.