Ritu Priya Mahajan

Blood is one of the most essential components of the body. It carries out various functions that are life sustaining. Situations may arise when the requirement of blood quantity cannot be met as in case of intense injury or surgical conditions where volume of blood may not be sufficient enough to support the survival of life. In such cases there is an inevitable requirement of the source from where the requirement can be met. So, the present review focuses on such products which can be used in place of blood for supporting the life. These products are designated as Artificial Blood. Artificial blood is a product made in order to substitute Red Blood Corpuscles, with the main function of transportation of respiratory gases, Oxygen and Carbon-dioxide throughout the body as well as fill fluid volume. But the product lacks other blood related objectives including absence of cells, coagulation properties and defence mechanisms. Artificial blood products can be broadly classified into two categories: Perflourocarbon based and Hemoglobin Based Oxygen Carriers products, each being associated with its specific advantages and disadvantages. The concept of artificial blood is not only theoretical but the products have been developed and are undergoing commercial development, with some being marketed and others being undergoing clinical and preclinical trials. Besides this, other blood replacement alternatives like antigen camouflage, transgenic therapeutic proteins, platelet substitute for cancer, etc. are also employed, while stem cells, dendrimers, biodegradable micelles and blood from placental umbilical cord may serve for future investigation of blood alternatives.

In the last decade, poorly soluble drugs have been an area of concern for all the researchers in the field of pharmacy. A number of researches have been carried out to enhance the solubility and dissolution properties of such drugs. This study deals with a comprehensive review of liquisolid technique carried out mainly for biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS) class II & IV drugs. These drugs are having problems of poor solubility, dissolution and thus poor bioavailability. Various studies conducted on a number of drugs so far, have been reviewed. A variety of techniques such as micronization, salt formation, complexation, solid solutions, and liquisolid technique etc. have been used to overcome such problems. It has been observed that liquisolid technique is the most promising way for solubility and dissolution enhancement of such drugs. It can be concluded that liquisolid technique results in increased solubility, dissolution and thus bioavailability.