Title: Piperine : A Potential Bioenhancer

Abstract:

Maximizing oral bioavailability is therapeutically important because the extent of bioavailability directly influences plasma concentrations and therapeutic efficacy after oral drug administration. Bioavailability of poor bioavailable drugs can be increased from the many available approaches in the literature and the most recent approach is the use of bioavailability enhancers. The use of bioenhancers seems to be a fruitful method for increasing bioavailability of an orally administered drug and nutraceutical. The chemical entities, which when mixed with drugs promote and augment their bioavailability without showing any synergistic effects with the drug are known as Bioenhancers.  They are capable of reducing factors such as toxicity, cost, poor bioavailability and long term administration of drugs. Piperine or 1-peperoyl piperidine a major pungent alkaloid derived from Piper species is found to be a bioenhancer against many drugs. It augments the bioavailability of several drugs like carbamazepine, curcumin, ciprofloxacin, ampicillin, metronidazole, oxytetracycline and many others by inhibiting various metabolizing enzymes. 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. Thus piperine, being an efficacious inhibitor of drug metabolism is a powerful enhancer of absorption. This concept which is found to be beneficial, has its roots in Ayurveda-the traditional Indian system of medicine and has been applied to various drugs. Using piperine as bioenhancers provides a fine instance of the advantage of amalgamating a traditional system with contemporary medicine.

Biography:

Dr. Sunita Singh is an Assistant professor of Chemistry in the Navyug Kanya Mahavidyalaya, University of Lucknow since 2019. She pursued her Ph.D. in the year 2015 on the topic, “Chemistry, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of essential oils and oleoresins of spices” from DDU Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur. She has awarded with Junior Research and senior research fellowships from University Grant Commission. She also worked as Research Assistant (2010-2011) on the project sponsored by CST “Chemistry, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial activities of Oleoresins extracted from Cardamom, Black pepper and Caraway”.