International Journal of Biology Research

Authors
Shinde SA, Chavhan SA, Sapkal SB, Darakhe RA

Abstract
Oral absorption of drug is very important issue especially when the drug is poorly bioavailable, given for long periods and expensive. Bio enhancers can be defined as chemical entities, which when mixed with drugs promote and augment their bioavailability without showing any synergistic effect with the drug. The factors like toxicity, cost, poor bioavailability and long-term administration of drugs give rise to the need of bio enhancers which help overcome most of these problems. Piper species produce a pungent alkaloid named Piperine or 1-peperoyl piperidine. Piperine increases permeability at the site of absorption by modulating lipid environment and membrane dynamics. Piperine has a molecular structure that is suitable for enzyme inhibition. It augments the bioavailability of several drugs like carbamazepine, curcumin, ciprofloxacin, ampicillin, metronidazole, oxytetracycline and many others by inhibiting various metabolizing enzymes. Thus piperine, being an efficacious inhibitor of drug metabolism is a powerful enhancer of absorption. The following review explores the mechanism, metabolism inhibition, influence of structural changes on activity, and drugs bio enhanced by piperine. It provides an insight on the application of piperine as an effective bio enhancer and the superiority of a bio enhanced drug formulation over the one without a bio enhancer Bio enhancers or bioavailability enhancers are mostly the plant-based molecules which promote the biological activity or bioavailability or the uptake of drugs in combination therapy. This review article concludes the bioavailability enhancing property of piperine.