Abstract
The most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) which are themain causes of disability and pain among older people. Current treatment of arthritis mainly consists of oral and intra-articular medications. Despite the efficacy of the intraarticular injections over the oral treatment, it is still limited by the rapid clearance of the injected drug. Therefore, a rational design of drug delivery systems (DDSs) able to delivery drugs in controlled manner and for required period of time to the arthritis joint is a key in developing safe and effective formulations for OA and RA. In this paper various colloidal systems like nanoparticles, liposomes, cationic carriers, hydrogels, and emulsion-based carriers were presented and discussed in light of their use and efficacy as delivery systems to transport therapeutics for arthritis treatment. Factors influencing the delivery efficacy such as size, charge, structure, drug uptake, retention and its release profile alongside with cytocompatibility and safety were addressed. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages of the different colloidal systems were emphasised.
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•Drug delivery system improves drug bioavailability to the affected joints, increase drug uptake, retention, and release inside the cartilage tissue.•Drug delivery system can deliver a drug in sustain behaviour•Nanoparticles, liposomes, emulsions, cationic carriers, and hydrogels are used widely to deliver drugs for arthritis.•Carrier size, charge, composition, preparation methods and cytocompatibility can affect the efficacy of the drug delivery system.