Investigation of Properties and Applications of Acrylic Pressure Sensitive Adhesives in Transdermal Drug Delivery Systems

Acrylic pressure sensitive adhesives are an important class of adhesives which have attracted more attention than other adhesives because of their transparency, oxidation resistance, non-toxicity and relatively low cost. One of the most promising applications of these adhesives is in transdermal drug delivery systems in which drugs are released from adhesive in a controllable manner and enter the body through the skin. In this paper, first, the composition of the pressure sensitive adhesives and their properties are discussed and next the applications of these adhesives in transdermal drug delivery systems and the effect of their composition on drug release are reviewed in concisely. The results represented here indicate that the structure and content of acrylic monomers, secondary comonomers and functional group-containing monomers in the composition of pressure sensitive adhesive have significant effects on the adhesion properties of these adhesives. Investigations also show that acrylic pressure sensitive adhesives can be used effectively in transdermal drug delivery systems. The matrix of acrylic adhesive has high solubility for many drugs and can be used for loading of different drugs. Drug release of these systems is strongly affected by the composition of acrylic adhesive; and drug permeation can be adjusted by varying the type of acrylic adhesive. The presence of comonomers in the structure of acrylic adhesive, besides changing the physical and adhesion properties, significantly affects permeation and drug release from the adhesive. The permeation of drug is lowered by increasing polarity and hydrophilicity of the adhesive.